iL* 


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THE  SCIENCE  SERIES 


i.  The  Study  of  Man.  By  A.  C.  Haddon.  Illustrated.  8° 

2.  The   Groundwork  of  Science.     By  St.  George  Mi- 

VART. 

3.  Rivers  of  North  America.      By  Israel  C.  Russell. 

Illustrated. 

4.  Earth   Sculpture ;  or,  The  Origin  of  Land  Forms. 

By  James  Geikie.     Illustrated. 

5.  Volcanoes ;  Their  Structure  and  Significance.     By 

T.  G.  Bonney.     Illustrated. 

6.  Bacteria.     By  George  Newman.     Illustrated. 

7.  A  Book  of  Whales.     By  F.  E.  Beddard.    Illustrated. 

8.  Comparative   Physiology    of  the    Brain,    etc.       By 

Jacques  Loeb.     Illustrated. 

9.  The  Stars.     By  Simon  Newcomb.     Illustrated. 

10.  The  Basis  of  Social  Relations.  By  Daniel  G.  Brinton. 

11.  Experiments  on  Animals.     By  Stephen  Paget. 

12.  Infection  and  Immunity.     By  George  M.  Sternberg. 

13.  Fatigue.     By  A.  Mosso. 

14.  Earthquakes.     By  Clarence  E.  Dutton.     Illustrated. 


For  list  of  works  in  preparation  see  end  of  this  volume. 


Übe  Science  Series 

EDITED    BY 

:6t>war&  Xee  UbornMfce,  pb.E). 

AND 

f.  £.  «e&öatö,  A.B.,  JMR.5. 


THE  HYGIENE  OF  NERVES  AND  MIND 
IN  HEALTH  AND  DISEASE 


Hygiene    of  Nerves    and     Mind 
in  Health  and  Disease 


By 

August  Forel,  M.D. 

Formerly  Professor  of  Psychiatry  in  the  University  of  Zurich 

Authorised  Translation  from  the  Second  German  Edition 

By 

Herbert  Austin  Aikins,  Ph.D. 

Professor  in  Western  Reserve  University 


G.  P.  Putnam's  Sons 

New  York    and    London 

Gbe  UmtckerJbocker  press 

1907 


Copyright,  1907 

BY 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 


tfon 


Ubc  Tkntcfeerbocfter  press,  «cw  U?orft 


TRANSLATORS  PREFACE 

C  VERY  science  has  its  practical  applications,  and 
*-'  in  our  modern  world  these  are  the  chief  test 
of  its  value.  But  there  is  always  danger  of  making 
the  applications  too  soon,  and  developing  bizarre  as- 
trologies and  alchemies  on  the  meagre  foundations 
of  some  later  astronomy  and  chemistry ;  and  this  dan- 
ger is  very  great  indeed  when  it  comes  to  applying 
the  little  scientific  knowledge  that  we  have  of  the 
human  mind,  its  laws  of  action,  and  its  relations  to  the 
body.  We  have  already  had  our  era  of  phrenology, 
and  in  our  own  day  there  are  legions  of  uninstructed 
people  who  hope  to  accomplish  all  sorts  of  ends  by 
hypnotism,  telepathy  and  mental  healing,  and  the 
interplay  of  "  subjective  "  and  "  objective  ,:  mind. 
It  is  true  that  of  late  years  the  scientific  knowledge  of 
mind  has  grown  amazingly;  yet  the  ascertained  prin- 
ciples are  still  very  scattered,  and  it  is  hard  for  any 
one,  even  the  expert  psychologist,  to  give  their  prac- 
tical applications  without  carrying  some  of  them  to 
an  extreme.  The  minute  he  goes  beyond  the  veriest 
commonplaces  his  ground  is  likely  to  become  insecure, 
and  the  more  positive  guidance  he  attempts  to  give 
on  the  strength  of  theoretical  principles  the  more 
danger  there  is   of   his   overlooking   some   concrete 

iii 


iv  TRANSLATORS  PREFACE 

facts  of  which  these  particular  principles  take  no 
account. 

But  even  when  the  psychologist  himself  succeeds 
in  laying  down  general  principles  and  making  new 
and  useful  practical  applications  of  them  without 
going  to  extremes,  his  reader  may  not  take  them  so 
conservatively,  especially  if  they  be  made  in  a  popu- 
lar book;  for  in  such  a  book  the  principles  and  appli- 
cations must  be  as  simple  and  far-reaching  as 
possible  though  the  facts  of  mental  life  are  tremend- 
ously complex,  and  it  takes  rare  tact  and  insight  to 
select  a  few  very  simple  principles  to  represent  the 
complex  whole  and  apply  them  in  such  a  way  that 
they  can  be  used  practically  without  being  greatly 
distorted  or  carried  to  harmful  extremes  by  the  very 
people  who  are  in  the  greatest  need  of  their  guidance. 

For  such  a  task  as  this  Professor  Forel  has  very 
unusual  qualifications.  As  a  psychologist,  especially 
in  the  fields  of  instinct  and  hypnotism,  he  has  a 
world-wide  reputation;  his  work  as  professor  of  mor- 
bid psychology  at  the  University  of  Zurich  has  given 
him  abundant  opportunity  for  the  investigation  and 
explanation  of  mental  disease  from  the  standpoint  of 
the  professional  student,  and  his  position  as  director 
of  the  Burghölzli  asylum  has  given  him  even  more 
valuable  experience  as  adviser  to  those  who  are,  or 
feel  themselves  to  be,  in  need  of  personal  direction. 

As  to  the  translation  itself,  I  have  tried  to  fol- 
low the  original  with  reasonable  accuracy,  though  I 
have  omitted  or  softened  three  or  four  unimportant 


TRANSLATORS  PREFACE  v 

sentences  which  would  be  appropriate  enough  in  a 
medical  treatise  but  which  were  hardly  suited  to  the 
larger  American  and  English  public  whom  I  hope 
the  book  will  reach. 

Figures  9  and  10  of  the  original  did  not  lend 
themselves  easily  to  reproduction,  and  I  have  sub- 
stituted two  others  procured  through  the  kindness  of 
Professor  E.  L.  Thorndike. 

H.  A.  A. 


PREFACE 

ACCORDING  to  the  scientific  theory  of  mon- 
ism, or  the  "  Identity  "  hypothesis — the  only 
theory,  in  my  opinion,  which  is  consistent  with  the 
facts, — mind  and  living  brain  are  one  and  the  same 
thing.  See  Forel,  Brain  and  Mind  1 ;  The  Mental 
Powers  of  Ants2;  Monism  and  Psychology.3 

From  this  it  follows  that  our  mental  life,  and  there- 
fore our  moral  life  too,  is  an  expression  of  our  brain 
life;  and  for  this  simple  reason  all  the  phenomena 
of  mental  life  must  be  considered  in  any  account 
of  nervous  or  brain  hygiene.  Questions  of  social 
hygiene  and  of  morals  are  more  special. 

My  conception  of  popular  hygiene  is  that  it  en- 
ables an  intelligent  layman  with  a  fair  education  to 
govern  his  life  in  such  a  way  as  to  avoid  diseases  and 
abnormalities  as  far  as  possible  for  himself,  his  fel- 
lowmen,  and  his  offspring,  and  to  promote  the  health 
and  strength  of  them  all  in  every  respect. 

Hygiene  should  in  no  wise  supplant  the  expert 

1  Gehirn  und  Seele,  E.  Strauss,  pub.,  Bonn. 

2  Die  Psychischen    Fähigkeiten   der  Ameisen,  E.     Reinhardt,    pub. 
Munich.  Ants  and  Some  Other  Insects,  Kegan  Paul,  pub.,  London,  1904, 

3  "Monismus  und  Psychologie,"  Polit.-anthrop.  Revue,  1903, 

vii 


Vlll 


PREFACE 


physician;  and  yet  it  should  manage  to  make  the 
occasions  for  his  assistance  as  rare  as  possible. 

I  believe  further  that  rules  of  hygiene  whose 
grounds  are  not  understood  can  easily  do  harm;  and 
with  the  nervous  system  and  its  functions,  which  are 
commonly  so  badly  misunderstood,  a  thorough  ex- 
planation of  the  relations  involved  is  on  this  account 
especially  indispensable. 

To  my  dear  friend  and  colleague,  Dr.  Wolfgang 
Bach  of  Zurich,  I  must  offer  special  thanks  for  the 
excellent  assistance  which  he  has  given  me  in  the 
revision  of  this  work. 

A.  FOREL. 

Chigny  pres  Morges,  Vaud,  Switzerland,  June,  1903. 
[Preface  to  second  edition,  dated  Feb.  1905 J 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

INTRODUCTION 1 

PART  I.     Mind,  Brain,  and  Nerves  in  their  Normal 

Condition        .......         3 

CHAPTER  I. 

Psychology  (the  Science  of  Mind).     What  are  Spirit 

and  Mind  ? 5 

CHAPTER  II. 

Anatomy  of  the  Nervous  System         ....       43 

CHAPTER  III. 

The  Relation  of  the  Mind  to  the  Brain  66 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Physiology  of  the  Nervous  System     ....       84 

CHAPTER  V. 

Embryology    and    Race    History    of    the    Nervous 

System      ........     Ill 

PART  II.     Pathology  of  the  Nervous  Life         .         .     139 

CHAPTER  VI. 

General  Conceptions  of  Mental  and  Nervous  Path- 
ology          141 

ix 


x  CONTENTS 

PA  OB 

CHAPTER  VII. 

Synopsis  of  Mental  and  Nervous  Diseases  or  Abnor- 
malities   ........     165 

CHAPTER  VIII. 

Causes  of  Mental  and  Nervous  Disturbances       .         .     205 

PART  HI.     Hygiene  or  the  Mental  Life  and  of  the 

Nervous  System      ......     233 

CHAPTER  IX. 

Nervous  Hygiene  in  General        .         .         .         .         .     238 

CHAPTER  X. 

Nervous   Hygiene    of  Generation   or  of  Inheritance 

(Hygiene  of  the  Inherited  Disposition)    .         .     274 

CHAPTER  XI. 

Nervous  Hygiene  of    Development   or  of   Childhood 

(Pedagogics)     .......     284 

CHAPTER  XII. 

Special  Nerve  Hygiene  for  Adults       ....     310 

APPENDIX .333 

INDEX       .  .  337 


THE  HYGIENE  OF  NERVES  AND  MIND 
IN  HEALTH  AND  DISEASE 


THE    HYGIENE    OF    NERVES   AND 
MIND  IN  HEALTH  AND  DISEASE 


INTRODUCTION 

/^\UR  power  of  forming  proper  judgments  about 
^^  what  takes  place  in  a  person's  mental  and 
nervous  life  and  its  significance  for  the  individual  and 
for  society  at  large  is  much  impaired  by  lack  of  a 
proper  knowledge  of  the  brain  and  of  psychology. 
The  misunderstanding  of  mental  processes,  whether 
normal  or  abnormal,  has  a  strong  tendency  to  destroy 
harmony  both  in  the  narrower  circle  of  the  family 
and  in  wider  social  relations,  and  leads  to  the  gravest 
errors  in  the  estimation  of  a  person's  intellectual  and 
moral  value.  This  is  injurious  both  to  single  individ- 
uals and  to  society  as  a  whole.  A  judge,  for  example, 
who  is  without  psychological  understanding,  is  in- 
capable of  passing  a  just  sentence,  because  he  cannot 
form  a  proper  estimate  of  the  guilty  man;  and  a 
physician  who  does  not  understand  the  brain  and 
psychology  in  their  relations  to  a  person's  life  is  like 
an  electrician  who  putters  with  the  wires   without 


2  INTRODUCTION 

knowing  the  construction  and  function  of  the  central 
accumulators.  In  the  same  way,  the  teacher,  the 
official,  and  others  should  understand  psychology. 

Thus  nerve  hygiene,  especially  on  its  social  side, 
has  a  profound  influence  upon  the  mechanism  of  our 
human  social  life.  Without  a  rational  nerve  hygiene 
there  can  be  no  healthy  social  development.  It  will 
be  seen  from  this  that  we  must  begin  a  long  way 
back.  It  is  almost  foolhardy  to  wish  to  master  such 
a  tremendous  subject  in  such  a  limited  space — and 
that  too  in  a  popular  treatment.  If  I  attempt  it, 
nevertheless,  it  is  because  I  am  earnestly  persuaded 
that  it  is  in  response  to  a  real  need.  That  is  no 
empty  phrase  and  I  hope  the  reader  will  persuade 
himself  of  it.  But  I  must  beg  for  great  forbearance, 
for  patience,  and  for  attentive  reading  in  view  of  the 
very  peculiar  difficulty  of  my  task. 


PART  I 

MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES  IN  THEIR 
NORMAL  CONDITION 


CHAPTER  I 

PSYCHOLOGY     (THE    SCIENCE    OF    MIND) WHAT    ABE 

SPIRIT  AND   MIND? 

"NJERVES,"  "brain,"  "spirit,"  "soul,"  "mind," 
*  ^  are  words  which  every  one  uses  nowadays, 
without  usually  having  a  clear  idea  of  their  true 
meaning.  To  be  sure  the  nature  of  mind  and  spirit 
and  their  relations  to  the  brain  is  still  one  of  the 
most  persistently  quarrelsome  problems  of  philo- 
sophy. But  without  at  least  a  partial  understanding 
of  the  work  of  psychology,  or  the  science  of  the  mind, 
and  the  nature  of  brain  and  nerves,  our  subject  can- 
not be  grasped  at  all,  and  a  mere  play  of  words  takes 
the  place  of  understanding.  So  I  beg  the  reader  to 
courageously  attack  the  following  sketch  of  the 
normal  life  of  mind  and  nerves  and  the  normal  struc- 
ture of  the  brain  and  nervous  system. 

Let  us  then  begin  to  make  clear  to  ourselves  what 
constitutes  the  content  of  our  minds — the  subject- 
matter  of  psychology. 

Imagine  that  you  are  lying  on  a  meadow  near  your 
house,  looking  at  the  blue  sky  and  a  flying  bird.  In 
this  moment  there  apparently  exist  for  you  two 
things :  the  blue  sky  and  the  bird  on  the  one  hand,  and 

5 


6  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

on  the  other  your  ego  or  "  I  "  that  sees  the  blue  sky 
and  the  bird.1  The  sky  and  the  bird  you  locate 
away  off  in  the  distance,  outside  of  yourself;  the  "  I  " 
in  yourself. 

Now  suddenly  you  have  an  uncomfortable  feeling 
in  your  nose  and  immediately  think  of  your  bedroom, 
where  you  inadvertently  left  the  pocket-handkerchief 
that  you  would  like  to  use.  The  image  of  the  bed- 
room and  the  handkerchief  appears  clearly  before 
your  eyes  as  what  we  call  a  memory-image,  Not 
only  the  tickling  sensation  in  your  nose,  but  also  the 
representation  of  the  bedroom  is  experienced  in- 
wardly as  a  thought  of  your  "  I."  Still  there  are 
bound  up  with  these  a  set  of  other  mental  events: 
first,  a  feeling  of  annoyance  at  the  disturbed  rest; 
second,  a  growing  impulse  which  leads  to  the  resolu- 
tion to  go  to  the  room  and  get  the  handkerchief; 
third,  the  idea  of  the  movement,  or  the  motor  image 
of  the  act  that  you  must  perform. 

In  a  simple  incident  like  this  we  find  in  the  closest 
connection,  or  as  they  say  in  psychology  associated 
with  each  other,  events  belonging  to  the  three  princi- 
pal spheres  of  mental  life:  knowing,  feeling,  and 
willing.     Let  us  analyse  all  three. 

1.  The  Sphere  of  Knowledge.  The  sensations  of 
blue  (the  sky)   and  of  tickling  in  the  nose  are  rela- 

1  In  reality  there  exists  for  you  much  more,  as,  for  example,  the  feel- 
ings of  touch  or  pressure  from  the  skin  of  your  back,  your  visceral  sen- 
sations, the  dull  knowledge  of  where  you  are  lying  and  why  you  lie 
there,  and  so  forth.  But  all  that  is  subconscious  and  we  ought  not  to 
complicate  the  matter  too  much  at  the  very  beginning.  In  reality  it  all 
belongs  to  the  "I." 


WH  A  T  ARE  SPIRIT  AND  MIND  ?  7 

tively  simple  matters  of  sight  and  touch.  The  image 
of  the  flying  bird,  on  the  contrary,  involves  the  com- 
bination of  various  impressions  of  form,  colour,  and 
movement,  and  the  image  arouses  in  you  an  idea,  or 
better,  a  general  conception,  of  a  bird.  You  have 
attained  this  general  conception  in  the  course  of  your 
life  because  of  the  fact  that  you  have  seen  very  many 
birds.  The  appearance  of  the  bird  before  your  eyes 
was  what  is  called  in  psychology  a  perception.  A 
perception  is  consequently  not  only  a  combination  of 
various  sensations ;  it  also  involves  representation x 
or  the  unconscious  (see  infra)  memory  of  many 
former  similar  perceptions.  It  even  involves  logical 
inferences;  for  when  I  say,  "I  see  a  bird,"  that  is 
equivalent  to  saying  that  the  image  that  floats  there 
before  my  eyes  is  similar  to  very  many  former 
images  which  I  have  been  accustomed  to  designate  by 
the  word  "  bird." 

But  what  is  the  image  of  your  bedroom  and  your 
handkerchief?  This  is  really  closely  allied  in  its 
nature  to  that  of  the  bird  and  the  sky;  but  you  know 
that  it  lies  in  you  and  not  outside  of  you.  This 
image  is  called  in  psychology  an  inner  representation, 
and  in  this  particular  case  the  representation  is  con- 
crete or  the  representation  of  a  thing.  You  would 
not  have  had  this  representation  if  you  had  not  form- 
erly seen  your  bedroom  and  your  handkerchief;  you 
see  them  both  "  in  your  mind,"  and  the  representation 

1  [The  German  is  Vorstellung,  and  in  most  cases  "presentation  "  would 
be  a  more  satisfactory  translation  to  psychologists  than  "representation." 
But  I  shall  use  the  latter,  as  less  puzzling  to  the  layman.  —  Tä. J 


8  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

depends  directly  upon  the  memory  of  previous  per- 
ceptions of  the  bedroom  and  the  handkerchief.  Thus 
it  is  only  a  kind  of  inner  repetition  of  that  previous 
perception,  by  means  of  a  process  of  memory ;  and  so 
it  can  also  be  called  a  memory -image.  Is  there  then 
a  fundamental  distinction  between  perceptions  and 
inward  representations?  You  will  answer:  "Yes,  of 
course,  for  it  is  certainly  a  very  different  matter 
whether  I  actually  see  a  thing  or  only  remember  it." 
And  the  layman  will  immediately  argue:  "When  I 
actually  see  a  thing,  that  is  because  light  waves  have 
struck  my  eyes ;  and  with  recollection  that  is  certainly 
not  the  case.  Therefore  inner  representation  and 
perception  are  fundamentally  different." 

Clear  as  this  view  seems,  it  is  none  the  less  false. 
To  be  sure,  it  is  generally  the  case  that  our  percep- 
tions owe  their  existence  to  real  external  objects; 
that  when  we  see  a  bird,  hear  music,  feel  a  stone, 
smell  a  violet,  or  taste  sugar,  the  bird,  the  music,  the 
stone,  the  violet,  or  the  sugar  that  we  perceive  is 
really  there  in  the  external  world.  But  this  is  not 
always  so.  For  in  dreams  we  often  see  or  feel  or 
hear  all  sorts  of  things  which  do  not  exist  at  all  in 
the  real  world  outside  of  ourselves,  but  only  seem 
like  realities.  And  that  is  still  more  clearly  the  case 
with  the  waking  hallucinations  and  illusions  or  false 
perceptions  in  which  we  perceive  all  kinds  of  things 
with  nothing  at  all  or  something  quite  different  to 
correspond  to  them  in  the  external  world.  If  any 
one  is  still  unconvinced,  let  him  question  some  one 


WH  A  T  ARE  SPIRIT  AND  MIND  ?  g 

who  has  recently  lost  a  leg  or  an  arm.  Such  a  per- 
son has  all  sorts  of  perceptions  of  the  limb  which  is  no 
longer  there;  he  feels  his  fingers — perhaps  even  has 
pains  in  them,  although  they  have  long  been  gone 
and  decayed. 

A  careful  study  of  these  facts  proves  that  the  pro- 
cess of  perception,  like  that  of  representation,  takes 
place  entirely  within  ourselves,  and  that  the  two  pro- 
cesses are  much  more  closely  related  to  each  other 
than  we  are  generally  inclined  to  suppose.  To  be 
sure,  perception  would  not  be  possible  if  its  elements 
were  never  carried  in  to  the  brain  through  the  senses. 
But  that  is  likewise  true  of  representation.  We  shall 
return  to  this  soon. 

But  while  you  are  associating  the  sensations,  per- 
ceptions, and  representations  already  mentioned,  the 
thought  comes  to  you  that  in  a  short  time — say,  a 
minute — you  can  go  to  your  bedroom  scarcely  fifty 
yards  away  and  get  your  handkerchief.  What  kind 
of  thoughts  are  these:  a  minute,  a  distance  of  fifty 
yards?  In  themselves  fifty  yards  and  a  minute  are 
neither  real  things  nor  representations  of  things,  but 
abstract  ideas  of  time  and  space.  We  can  make  an 
exact  mental  picture  of  the  room  as  something  that 
exists  in  space,  even  though  the  picture  is  only  in  our 
minds,  but  we  cannot  directly  picture  a  minute  or 
fifty  yards.  We  can  do  so  only  indirectly  by  con- 
necting (or  associating)  with  it  representations  of 
things,  such  as  watches  or  tape-lines.  Once  it  was 
thought   that   we   could   construct   abstract   concep- 


io  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

tions  by  a  purely  spiritual  process.  But  that  was 
an  error.  They  are  built  up  in  the  course  of  a 
human  life  from  concrete  representations  of  things. 
The  idea  "  fifty  yards  "  has  come  into  existence  as  a 
result  of  the  fact  that  in  the  course  of  our  lives  we  have 
gone  about  in  space  times  without  number  and 
learned  to  measure  and  estimate  different  distances 
in  a  hundred  different  ways.  At  last  conventional 
standards,  like  the  yard,  were  constructed  in  order 
to  measure  off  space  more  conveniently  and  accu- 
rately, and  we  have  gradually  accustomed  ourselves 
to  these  conventions  after  first  becoming  familiar 
with  them  in  concrete  forms  like  the  wooden  yard- 
stick. Exactly  the  same  thing  is  true  of  time.  The 
idea  of  time  is  only  an  abstraction  from  the  many 
successions  of  our  experiences,  and  a  minute  is  no- 
thing more  than  a  conventional  measure  of  time  that 
can  be  easily  fixed  with  the  help  of  clockwork.  I 
shall  not  pursue  this  question  any  further  here,  but 
only  state  that  all  our  abstract  ideas,  and  especially 
the  whole  of  mathematics,  has  been  built  up  step  by 
step  merely  by  the  comparison  of  concrete  percep- 
tions and  representations  of  things.  Yet  we  must 
notice  the  three  main  abstractions  into  the  frame- 
work of  which  we  divide  the  relations  of  all  that  exists 
in  the  external  world. 

a.  The  qualitative  distinction.  We  distinguish 
blue  from  red,  sensations  of  sight  from  those  of 
sound,  sound  from  the  feeling  of  hard  or  warm,  this 
from  the  smell  of  violets,  and  the  smell  of  violets 


WH  A  T  ARE  SPIRIT  AND  MIND  ?  1 1 

from  a  sweet  taste.  The  whole  external  world  ap- 
pears to  us  in  qualitative  differences.  Directly,  i.e., 
psychologically,  no  quality  can  be  reduced  to  an- 
other, not  even  where  this  can  be  done  with  precision 
indirectly,  i.e.,  scientifically.  For  example,  psycho- 
logically, or  directly,  we  can  never  transform  warmth 
into  force  (i.e.,  the  sensation  of  warmth  into  the 
sensation  of  movement),  though  physically  we  can 
transform  warmth  into  force  or  force  into  warmth 
with  great  precision.  So  again,  psychologically,  we 
can  never  analyse  the  sensation  of  white  into  the  sen- 
sations of  its  constituent  colours,  though  physically 
we  can  analyse  the  colour  easily  enough  by  means  of 
a  prism. 

b.  Time,  or  the  relations  of  succession  between 
phenomena. 

c.  Space,  or  the  relations  of  standing  beside  each 
other  of  different  simultaneous  phenomena. 

Everything  that  we  recognise  at  all,  within  us  or 
without  us,  appears  to  us  in  relations  of  qualitative 
difference,  or  time,  or  space. 

2.  The  Sphere  of  Feeling.  As  you  became  con- 
scious of  the  tickling  in  your  nose  and  the  necessity 
for  getting  up,  you  experienced  displeasure.  This 
is  called  feeling.1  In  psychology  it  is  much  more 
difficult  to  analyse  feelings  than  sensations  and  per- 
ceptions. They  exhibit  no  space-relations,  fill  us  in- 
ternally in  a  very  general  way,  follow  each  other 
slowly  and  indefinitely,  and  display  but  few  qualita- 

»[Or  emotion,  something  very  different  from  a  "feeling"  of  touch. — Tr.] 


i2  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

tive  distinctions.  Of  these  the  most  marked  are 
pleasure  and  displeasure,  the  first  with  a  general  re- 
lease and  promotion  of  the  "  I,"  the  second  with  a 
general  constraint  and  depression  of  the  personality. 
The  feelings  cannot  be  directly  deduced  from  repre- 
sentations of  things  or  from  representations  of  any 
sort.  That  there  are  not  only  contrasted  feelings  of 
pleasure  and  displeasure  but  also  of  excitement  and 
depression  and  of  tension  and  relief  was  shown  by  the 
psychologist  and  philosopher  Wundt;  and  this  has 
been  confirmed  by  Oscar  Vogt's  investigations  with 
the  hypnotised. 

Taken  in  general,  the  feelings  can  appear  inde- 
pendently of  perceptions  and  representations.  But 
nevertheless  they  are  continually  associated  with  them 
in  our  minds.  A  recollection  or  perception  of  the 
words  of  a  telegraphic  despatch  can  call  forth  pleas- 
ure or  displeasure,  excitement  or  depression,  tension 
or  relief ;  and,  on  the  other  hand,  a  gloomy  mood  can 
call  up  gloomy  representations.  Feelings  and  ideas 
affect  each  other  mutually.  But  the  feelings  are  also 
very  dependent  upon  the  general  condition  of  the 
body,  such  as  sickness,  health,  or  fatigue. 

Only  through  their  connection  with  fine  and  com- 
plex representations  are  the  feelings  refined  and  ele- 
vated, as  we  soon  discover  in  the  study  of  ethics  and 
aesthetics.  Feelings  with  special  qualitative  colour- 
ing, such  as  jealousy,  shame,  anger,  admiration, 
yearning,  sympathy,  and  the  feeling  of  duty,  are 
such  as  have  been  derived  secondarily  in  consequence 


WH  A  T  ARE  SPIRIT  AND  MIND  ?  13 

of  complicated  associations  with  cognitive  elements, 
even  if  they  are  in  many  ways  instinctive,  or  depend- 
ent on  definite  inherited  dispositions  (to  be  discussed 
later) .  They  often  display  mixtures  of  pleasure  and 
displeasure;  and  they  are  always  bound  up  with  defi- 
nite objects,  according  to  race,  customs,  and  educa- 
tion. Thus  Europeans  are  ashamed  to  show  their 
legs,  Orientals  their  faces. 

There  is  a  sphere  of  "  bodily,"  or,  more  accurately, 
of  visceral  feelings,  which  are  more  or  less  indefinitely 
localised,  such  as  those  of  sex,  anxiety,  and  hunger. 
Feelings  like  these  carry  with  them  a  vague  localisa- 
tion within  the  body.  They  correspond  to  no  definite 
organs  of  sense,  and  yet  are  not  so  generalised  as 
pleasure  and  unhappiness.  Thus  they  form  a  transi- 
tion between  the  sphere  of  sense-impressions  (which 
give  a  knowledge  of  things)  and  that  of  general  feel- 
ing, or  emotion.  This  group  of  feelings  is  intimately 
bound  up  with  the  instincts  or  impulses.  Certain 
visceral  sensations,  such  as  those  of  bodily  equilibrium 
and  bodily  fulness,  are  less  sharply  localised  than 
those  of  the  higher  senses  and  thus  show  a  relationship 
with  the  general  visceral  feelings. 

3.  Sphere  of  the  Will.  After  the  tickling  of  the 
nose  had  given  you  a  feeling  of  discomfort,  and  the 
representation  of  your  room  and  your  handkerchief, 
through  associations  of  time  and  space,  had  sug- 
gested the  possibility  of  making  an  end  to  the  dis- 
comfort, there  also  arose  within  you  associated 
representations  of  movement  and  the  resolution  to 


i4  MTND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

carry  it  out.  Such  resolutions  are  called  acts  of 
Will;  they  are  always  bound  up  with  the  repre- 
sentation of  future  acts;  and  when  they  are  formed 
they  set  our  bodies  into  motion  by  means  of  the 
muscles. 

But  as  soon  as  your  body  comes  into  movement 
through  the  muscles,  the  situation  of  all  your  sense- 
organs  is  changed,  and  with  it  the  stimuli  which 
affect  them.  In  carrying  out  your  resolution  you 
have  stood  up.  Before  this,  the  bird  had  already  left 
your  field  of  vision.  Now  you  turn  your  back  to 
the  blue  sky,  and  while  you  hasten  to  your  room  there 
is  a  succession  of  pictures  of  the  green  meadow,  the 
trees,  the  house,  and  the  stairs.  You  hear  the  bark- 
ing of  the  dog  and  the  sound  of  your  own  steps ;  you 
feel  turf  and  gravel  under  your  feet ;  the  breeze  brings 
odours  to  you;  you  feel  your  own  movements,  their 
rate  and  direction,  and  all  the  changes  of  your  bodily 
equilibrium.  In  short,  the  number  of  sensations 
which  follow  each  other  in  time,  the  pictures  of  things 
which  stand  beside  each  other  in  space,  the  manifold 
relations  of  difference  which  impress  themselves  upon 
your  perception,  are  multiplied  a  hundred-fold  now 
that  you  have  given  up  contemplative  repose  and 
begun  to  change  your  place. 

This  short  experiment  shows  to  what  a  tremendous 
extent  your  mental  life  is  quickened  and  enriched  by 
your  bodily  movements.  But  the  content  of  your 
consciousness  is  not  only  increased;  the  rapid  change 
of  relations  in  what  you  perceive  in  space  and  time 


WH  A  T  ARE  SPIRIT  AND  MIND  ?  1 5 

makes  it  possible  for  you  to  make  innumerable  com- 
parisons between  what  is  given  by  your  different 
senses.  When  you  see  something,  you  can  take 
hold  of  it  in  order  to  make  sure  how  this  something 
feels.  When  you  hear  something,  you  can  go  in 
the  direction  of  the  sound  to  discover  its  source  by 
sight  and  touch. 

Thus  movement  enables  you  to  test  the  perceptions 
of  one  sense  by  another,  and  to  correct  all  sorts  of 
errors.  If  one  sense  should  deceive  you,  or  if  its 
perceptions  are  insufficient,  another  can  correct  the 
deficiencies. 

But  still  further,  the  movements  call  forth  feel- 
ings and  resolutions  of  the  will. 

When  we  attend  to  the  matter  more  closely  we 
soon  observe  that  even  without  the  whole  body  chang- 
ing its  place,  most,  indeed  all,  of  our  sensations  and 
a  large  number  of  our  mental  activities  are  caused  by 
movements  of  the  parts  of  our  body,  or  at  the  least  by 
changes  in  the  stimuli  which  affect  our  senses,  as 
by  the  flight  of  the  bird  in  the  example  given.  When 
the  body  as  a  whole  is  quiet,  we  still  move  our  eyes, 
our  tongue,  our  hands,  etc.  Absolute  immobility  is 
scarcely  possible,  and  relative  stillness,  as  everybody 
knows,  is  one  of  the  conditions  that  tend  to  produce 
sleep.  But  more!  Every  impression  which  con- 
tinues steadily  for  any  considerable  time  without  a 
change  in  its  quality  gradually  ceases;  or,  in  other 
words,  when  the  intensity  of  the  stimulus  remains 
the  same  the  sensation  diminishes  until  it  disappears 


i6  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

completely.  That  is  a  general  law:  without  change, 
no  sensation. 

Thus  we  see,  on  the  one  hand,  that  our  resolutions 
and  the  actions  they  lead  to  are  caused  by  representa- 
tions and  feelings,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  that  our 
feelings  and  representations  are  aided  to  such  a  great 
extent  by  movement  that  without  it  their  play  and 
change  are  scarcely  conceivable.  And  if  indeed  we 
can  think  busily  even  when  we  are  lying  very  quietly 
in  bed,  it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  the  content  of 
these  thoughts  is  connected  with  previous  movements 
and  would  be  scarcely  conceivable  without  them.  One 
cannot  imagine  the  mental  life  of  a  human  being  who 
has  been  planted  immovably  like  a  tree  from  the  time 
of  his  birth.  Moreover,  when  we  think,  there  is  a 
feeling  of  movement  within  us.  Our  thoughts  move, 
so  to  speak,  inwardly. 

Strength  of  will  is  an  ambiguous  idea.  It  implies 
the  ability  to  form  firm  resolutions  from  thoughts 
and  feelings;  the  ability  to  convert  these  resolutions 
quickly  and  surely  into  acts;  but,  more  than  all,  the 
ability  to  pursue  an  aim,  once  chosen,  with  consistent 
perseverance.  Defects  in  any  one  of  these  directions 
are  amply  sufficient  to  cripple  the  will.  Strength 
of  will  is  very  different  from  impulsiveness  and 
capriciousness. 

Through  an  example  from  life,  we  have  now  come 
into  the  heart  of  psychology  and  have  gained  a  slight 
knowledge  of  its  three  spheres:  (1)  the  sphere  of 
knowledge  attained  by  working  up  the  sense-impres- 


WH  A  T  ARE  SPIRIT  AND  MIND  ?  1 7 

sions  which  we  receive  from  without;  (2)  the  sphere 
of  common  (or  general)  feeling  and  emotion  in  which 
there  is  a  general  emphasising  of  our  central  sensibil- 
ity— something  not  localised  in  space;  and  (3)  the 
sphere  of  will  and  movement  whose  power  transforms 
the  elaborated  impressions  and  conditions  of  the 
soul  into  outward  action.  We  observe  at  once  that 
the  first  sphere  comprehends  "  centripetal  "  elements 
which  come  from  without  and  lead  towards  the  centre 
of  the  soul,  while  the  second  appears  to  be  almost 
purely  central,  and  the  third  displays  "  centrifugal ': 
effects,  leading  out  from,  the  centre  of  the  soul.1 

4.  Judgment  and  Causality.  When  I  reason 
from  present  or  past  conditions  of  my  sensibility  to 
the  existence  of  certain  present,  past,  or  future 
phenomena,2  that  is  called  a  logical  judgment,  or  in- 
ference. Inferences  can  be  correct  {i.e.,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  facts),  false,  or  partly  correct.  No 
one  will  doubt  that  for  man  the  correct  judgment  of 
the  present  and  the  future  (and  to  a  large  extent  also 
of  the  past)  is  of  the  highest  importance.  Such 
judgment  is  based  upon  the  law  of  causation,  which 
says:  No  effect  without  a  preceding  cause.  But  the 
law  of  causation  is  itself  really  the  law  of  the  con- 

1  [The  word  "soul"  as  used  here  is  almost  synonymous  with  "mind." 
Psychologists  often  use  it  when  they  are  talking  about  feelings  rather 
than  about  something  more  strictly  intellectual.  It  has  no  special  refer- 
ence to  one's  immortal  part.  Indeed  German  psychologists  often  speak 
of  "  the  soul"  of  a  brute  when  they  deny  that  it  has  any  mind. — Tr.] 

2[The  word  "phenomenon  "  as  used  in  psychology  or  any  other  science 
does  not  mean  something  remarkable,  but  merely  something  that  can  be 
observed. — Tr.] 


i8  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

servation  of  energy,  which  says:  In  the  known  world 
of  phenomena  nothing  comes  from  nothing,  and  no 
atom,  no  spark  of  energy,  is  ever  lost.  Consequently, 
when  something  apparently  disappears  or  originates 
it  is  only  a  question  of  a  change  of  place  (movement) 
or  a  change  of  quality.  Every  form  of  energy  is 
transformed  into  another,  or  arises  from  another 
through  action  and  reaction.  The  former  is  called 
a  cause,  the  latter  an  effect.  Instead  of  cause  and 
effect  we  might  quite  as  well  say  action  and  reaction. 
We  judge  apparently  in  two  ways,  inductively 
and  deductively.  In  an  inductive  inference,  or  one 
based  on  analogy,  we  reason  from  the  frequent  con- 
junction or  the  peculiar  concatenation  of  certain 
phenomena  to  their  more  intimate  causal  connection. 
Example:  We  have  seen  time  and  again  that  apple 
trees  blossom  in  the  spring,  and  that  from  the  blos- 
soms little  apples  are  developed  which  ripen  in  the 
autumn.  We  conclude  from  this  that  apples  grow 
on  the  trees  which  we  learn  in  this  way  to  call  apple 
trees  and  not  on  pines,  even  though  we  see  them 
hanging  on  the  latter  at  Christmas  celebrations;  and 
that  if  we  plant  an  apple  tree  it  will  sometime  give  us 
apples.  Again,  if  some  one  has  lied  to  us  every  day 
for  a  year  we  conclude  from  this  that  he  will  lie  to  us 
in  the  future  also,  and  we  do  not  trust  him.  But  we 
must  note  at  once,  in  the  first  place,  that  inference 
from  analogy  has  very  indifferent  value  and  can 
only  be  made  to  give  a  probability  bordering  on  cer- 
tainty through  the  most  extreme  caution  and  careful 


WH  A  T  ARE  SPIRIT  AND  MIND  ?  1 9 

accuracy;  and  we  must  note,  in  the  second  place,  that 
such  inferences  are  often  drawn  subconsciously,1 — a 
great  many  sense-experiences  are  registered  in  our 
minds  and  apparently  forgotten  and  yet  used  "  in- 
stinctively "  or  subconsciously  in  later  life  for  ana- 
logical inferences. 

Thus  we  may  be  lost  in  thought  and  yet  travel  all 
over  forests,  underbrush,  mountains,  valleys^  lakes, 
and  rivers  without  falling  or  stumbling  or  getting 
drowned,  because  as  we  go  we  constantly  avoid  all 
dangerous  objects  and  movements  on  the  strength  of 
conclusions  which  we  draw  subconsciously  from  our 
former  experience.  We  perform  defensive  move- 
ments (e.  g.,  such  as  winking  or  dodging)  in  the 
same  way  to  a  still  greater  extent.  The  judging  of 
what  must  be  done  or  avoided  has  become  almost  as 
automatic  as  the  action  of  a  machine,  and  apparently 
unconscious    (subconscious)    also. 

A  deductive  inference,  in  contrast  to  all  this,  is  an 
absolutely  necessary  result  of  two  or  more  "  prem- 
ises," or  propositions  assumed  to  be  unconditionally 
valid;  and  is  absolutely  reliable  if  these  premises  are 
absolutely  correct.  It  is  really  contained  in  them 
and  stands  or  falls  with  them.  When  I  say:  1.  All 
men  have  a  stomach;  2.  You  are  a  man;  3.  There- 
fore you  have,  or  must  have,  a  stomach; — that  is  a 
syllogism  or  deductive  inference  of  the  old  scholastic 
sort.  Fortunately  we  have  learned  of  late  to  cure 
cancer  of  the  stomach  by  cutting  the  stomach  out. 

1  See  Chapter  III.,  where  the  sense  of  the  expression  "  subconscious  " 
instead  of  "  unconscious"  is  more  fully  explained. 


2o  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

So  this  syllogism  is  no  longer  true — there  are  men 
without  stomachs,  and  one  of  the  premises  is  false. 
But  apart  from  this,  deductive  reasoning  in  general 
has  very  little  value  outside  of  mathematics,  because 
it  is  only  there  that  one  can  deal  with  absolutely  cor- 
rect premises.  In  the  very  example  which  we  have 
given  the  deduction  is  merely  apparent;  for  both 
premises  rest  on  mere  induction.  Because  I  find  a 
stomach  in  every  autopsy  that  I  make  I  conclude 
that  all  men  have  stomachs,  and  because  you  have  all 
the  visible  qualities  of  the  things  I  call  men,  I  draw 
the  induction  that  vou  are  a  man.     The  conclusion 

mi 

that  you  have  a  stomach  then  follows  of  itself,  be- 
cause the  stomach  belongs  to  what  I  believe  to  be  the 
characteristics  of  a  man,  although  in  your  particular 
case  I  do  not  observe  it  directly. 

Because  of  this  question  about  the  premises  the 
whole  process  of  deduction  can  be  false,  as  we  have 
seen.  To  be  sure,  we  cannot  get  along  altogether 
without  it.  But  where  the  premises  are  absolutely 
certain  the  deductive  inferences  are  generally  so  ob- 
vious that  they  constitute  a  mere  play;  and  where  the 
premises  are  not  certain  they  lead  to  false  conclu- 
sions. Consequently  complicated  structures  based 
on  deduction  are  generally  worthless;  for  a  single 
false  premise  is  sufficient  to  upset  the  entire  house 
of  cards.  Moreover  this  kind  of  reasoning  out- 
side of  pure  mathematics  trains  the  human  mind  to 
sophistry,  the  art  of  concealing  fallacies  by  wordy 
structures  that  have  the  appearance  of  great  exacti- 


WH  A  TARE  SPIRIT  AND  MIND  ?  21 

tude.  In  mathematics,  on  the  contrary,  where  the 
equations,  weights,  and  measures  are  absolutely  cor- 
rect, deduction  is  the  key  to  everything.  When  I 
say:  (1)  '  The  sum  of  the  angles  in  every  quadrila- 
teral figure  is  equal  to  four  right  angles";  (2)  "A 
trapezium  is  a  quadrilateral  figure ;  "  (3)  'Therefore 
the  sum  of  the  angles  in  a  trapezium  is  equal  to  four 
right  angles  " ;  this  is  an  incontestable,  absolutely  cor- 
rect deductive  inference.  And  the  same  is  true  of 
more  complicated  mathematical  inferences.  They 
are  all  completely  comprehended  in  their  premises, 
and  these  are  absolutely  correct.  Deduction  is  there- 
fore the  logic  of  pure  abstract  thought,  i.e.,  of  pure 
mathematics;  induction,  on  the  contrary,  is  the  logic 
of  the  concrete  sciences.  In  many  branches  of  know- 
ledge, such  as  physics,  chemistry,  etc.,  each  helps  and 
completes  the  other. 

Unfortunately  the  convictions  of  men  really  de- 
pend much  less  upon  logical  inferences  than  upon 
other  conditions  and  processes  which  are  very  differ- 
ent,— especially  the  feelings,  the  emotional  tone,  blind 
habit,  and  imitation.  But  we  must  leave  this  subject 
of  logic  and  proceed  to  the  explanation  of  further 
psychological   expressions. 

5.  Memory  is  an  important  psychological  con- 
ception, and  consists,  so  far  as  introspection  or  con- 
sciousness is  concerned,  of  three  phenomena : 

a.  Any  sensation,  perception,  conclusion,  feeling, 
resolution  of  the  will,  or  motor  impulse  once  carried 
out  is  preserved  as  a  memory -image  in  our  minds  or, 


22  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

better,  as  a  pathway  in  our  brains.  How?  What  is 
this  preservation?  That  is  still  a  riddle.  Such  a 
trace  can  hardly  be  preserved  like  a  stiff  and  rigid 
photograph  in  the  living  protoplasm  of  the  brain.  Is 
it  a  weakened  complex  of  molecular  vibrations;  does 
it  consist  only  of  slight  changes  in  the  disposition  of 
the  molecules?  We  do  not  know.  Moreover  the 
question  does  not  belong  here,  since  it  is  not  one  of 
psychology  proper.  But  it  is  true  none  the  less  that 
every  one  of  our  mental  processes  leaves  behind  it 
some  memory-image,  some  track  or  trace  in  the 
memory. 

b.  The  revival  of  the  memory -image.  This  oc- 
curs through  the  mental  phenomenon  of  association, 
which  affects  not  only  ideas,  but  also  perceptions, 
feelings,  and  resolutions.  This  association  is  a  living 
example  of  the  connection  of  two  or  more  conditions 
of  the  soul.  If  I  suddenly  see  an  acquaintance, 
his  name  occurs  to  me.  The  visual  perception  of 
the  acquaintance  has  called  forth  the  memory-image 
of  his  name  through  association.  But  the  name 
(let  us  say  John  Smith)  is  essentially  a  sound  or 
auditory  image  (auditory  memory).  Consequently 
the  perception  with  my  eye  of  my  friend  John  Smith 
has  called  forth  through  the  association  of  ideas  an 
auditory  image  unconsciously  slumbering  in  me, 
and  I  address  him  by  name.  We  can  say  that  the 
slumbering  memory-images  are  suddenly  revived  or 
strengthened  again  through  association,  and  so  come 
once  more  above  the  threshold  of  consciousness. 


WH  A  T  ARE  SPIRIT  AND  MIND  2      .  23 

c.  Recognition,  or  the  perception  that  the  revived 
memory-image  is  the  same  as  one  that  we  had  before. 
In  the  example  just  given  I  recognise  John  Smith 
as  the  same  person  that  I  knew  before.  Yet  in 
memory  recognition  may  fail.  A  recollection  may 
emerge  without  our  knowing  where  it  comes  from  and 
without  our  being  conscious  of  its  identity  with  a 
previous  identical  incident.  Then,  to  be  sure,  it  is 
not  a  recollection  in  the  psychological  sense  of  the 
word,  for  the  very  reason  that  it  is  not  recognised  as 
such  by  the  subject.  Yet  we  can  prove  indirectly 
that  it  is  an  instance  of  memory.  Many  authors,  for 
example,  write  sentences  or  melodies  which  they  sup- 
pose to  be  their  own,  while  in  reality  they  have  uncon- 
sciously taken  them  from  other  works  which  they  have 
read  or  heard.  Thus  while  there  are  no  phenomena 
of  memory  without  a  and  b,  there  can  be  without  c. 

The  following  facts  or  laws  of  memory  must  still 
be  fixed  firmly  in  mind. 

In  memory  the  former  image  is  never  revived  with 
absolute  exactness.  There  is  always  some  falsifica- 
tion or  change,  even  though  it  be  extremely  little. 
Something  is  lost  and  something  is  added.  This  is 
largely  because  the  memory-images  are  called  forth 
again  in  very  different  associations,  and  every  new 
association  adds  something  new  and  lets  something 
old  crumble  away.  These  changes  are  often  so 
great,  especially  with  certain  people,  that  they  dis- 
figure images  out  of  all  recognition  or  even  make 
things  appear  to  be  memories  which  were  never  ex- 


24  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

perienced  at  all.  In  such  cases  we  speak  of  decep- 
tions of  memory.  They  occur  to  some  extent  with 
every  one  in  the  form  of  exaggerations,  etc.,  though 
formerly  this  was  not  sufficiently  recognised.  The 
reliability  of  memory  is  very  different  with  different 
individuals. 

The  connection  of  sensations,  perceptions,  repre- 
sentations, and  feelings  with  each  other  is  called 
association;  the  splitting  apart  of  such  associated 
images,  dissociation.  The  oftener  such  mental  ima- 
ges are  repeated  together,  the  more  firmly  are  they 
connected,  until  at  last  they  fuse  into  a  secondary 
unity  or  aggregate  (H.  Spencer).  An  original  plu- 
rality is  thus  transformed  into  a  psychological 
unity,  which  as  such  can  attain  a  character  of  its 
own  like  the  words  we  perceive  in  rapid  reading.  In 
the  same  way  combined  sensations,  such  as  the  tones 
in  a  chord,  melt  into  one.  The  process  of  forming 
such  secondary  unities  of  fused  associations  can  be 
called,  with  Wundt,  assimilation.  Complication  is  the 
name  given  by  the  same  author  to  the  intimate 
(mostly  subconscious)  connection  of  dissimilar,  psy- 
chological images,  as  in  the  conception  "  dog," 
which  involves  the  visual  image  of  a  dog,  the  auditory 
image  of  its  bark,  and  the  sound  and  sight  of  the 
word  "  dog."  1 

The  more  strongly  and  the  more  often  a  mental 

i  [«  When  the  combination  is  by  the  juxtaposition  in  space  of  the  ele- 
ments, as  when  different  bits  of  blue  make  a  blue  surface,  .  .  .  the 
combination  is  called  colligation.  When  the  elements  do  not  exclude  the 
other  from  occupying  the  same  space,  as  when  different  tones  combine 


WHAT  ARE  SPIRIT  AND  MIND ?  25 

process  is  repeated,  the  more  firmly  fixed  is  the 
memory-image.  Then,  too,  a  frequent  repetition  of 
the  same  set  of  mental  occurrences  makes  their  asso- 
ciation with  each  other  so  easy  that  the  mental  im- 
pression they  make  gets  weaker  and  weaker  until  at 
last  the  connection  is  so  mechanical — so  habitual  and 
automatic — and  the  impression  becomes  so  weak  that 
it  is  no  longer  noticed,  and  disappears  from  the  do- 
main of  the  ordinary  waking  consciousness.  Thus  it 
becomes  actually  or  apparently  subconscious.  It  is 
scarcely  necessary  to  add  that  all  impulses  of  the  will 
to  action  are  also  preserved  as  memory-images  or 
paths  of  recall,  though  these  motor  images  remain 
for  the  most  part  subconscious. 

From  what  takes  place  in  memory,  perhaps  more 
than  from  anything  else,  we  can  clearly  see  that  that 
Something  which  appears  to  us  as  a  mental  condition 
has  corresponding  energies  and  movements  in  the 
brain,  though  these  remain  hidden  for  the  most 
part  under  the  threshold  of  consciousness.  A  good 
memory  preserves  many  traces,  revives  them  again 
easily  through  association,  and  easily  recognises  them. 

6.  Attention.  While  we  are  thinking,  we  can 
keep  only  a  few  mental  conditions  in  consciousness  at 
the  same  time.  I  cannot  read  a  book  attentively  and 
listen  to  a  speech  at  the  same  time,  or  even  think  at 
once  of  all  the  contents  of  the  book.     Thus  at  every 

to  form  a  chord,  or  when  tastes  and  smells  and  touch  combine  to  form 
the  total  'taste'  of  celery,  the  combination  is  called  fusion." — E.  L. 
Thorndike,  Elements  of  Psychology,  p.  41.] 


26  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

moment  my  conscious  mental  activity  is  narrowed 
more  or  less  to  definite  thoughts  or  objects.  The 
more  intently  I  think  of  anything  or  attend  to  it,  the 
narrower  is  the  field  of  my  consciousness.  This  con- 
dition of  strong  and  at  the  same  time  narrowed  men- 
tal activity  is  called  attention;  and  when  it  is  well 
marked  it  is  accompanied  with  a  distinct  feeling  of 
inner  effort.  If,  on  the  contrary,  I  allow  a  set  of 
different  impressions  to  affect  my  senses  without  pay- 
ing any  special  attention  to  them  or  thinking  much 
about  them,  I  can  be  conscious  of  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  them  at  the  same  time,  though  the  number  is 
still  limited.  In  this  case  attention  is  weaker  and 
broader;  such  a  condition  is  called  distraction.  In 
popular  speech  the  term  "  distraction ':  is  used  to 
mean  merely  the  non-observation  or  neglect  of  in- 
different things  in  a  condition  of  intense  attention 
or  concentration.  If  we  assume,  as  is  really  the  case, 
that  the  different  impressions  of  our  senses  and  the 
impulses  to  move  our  different  muscles  take  place  in 
different  parts  of  the  brain,  then  attention  must  be 
regarded  as  a  movable  concentrated  maximum  or 
focus  of  cerebral  activity  that  can  be  conducted  by 
changing  associations  from  one  part  of  the  brain  to 
another  and  revive  memory-images  which  are  always 
on  hand  by  giving  them  new  force. 

Thus  we  see  that  the  play  of  thoughts,  feelings, 
and  impulses  of  the  will  produced  in  our  mental  life 
by  what  we  call  the  association  of  ideas  is  regulated 
by  the  activity  of  attention,  which  constantly  sepa- 


WH  A  TARE  SPIRIT  AND  MIND  ?  27 

rates  the  false  from  the  true  through  a  conscious  or 
subconscious  power  of  judgment.  But  here  it  must 
be  said  that  by  psychological  introspection,  i.  e.,  by 
looking  into  our  own  active  minds,  only  a  small  part 
of  the  associations  actually  present  are  discovered. 
Most  of  them  are  carried  on  in  the  deep  darkness  of 
a  subconscious  cerebral  activity  (to  be  discussed  later) 
that  seems  to  us  unconscious.  When  I  have  reached 
a  mountain  peak  and  for  the  moment  am  conscious 
only  of  the  wonderful  panorama  that  I  see  around 
me,  my  mind  still  knows  subconsciously  that  my 
body  is  standing  on  the  edge  of  a  perpendicular  neck- 
breaking  precipice  and  must  not  lose  its  balance,  that 
I  have  but  scanty  time  to  get  home,  that  I  am  hungry 
or  thirsty,  and  that  at  home  business  or  wif  e  and  child- 
ren are  awaiting  me.  All  these  unconscious  images 
in  the  memory,  bound  up  or  associated  with  the  view 
of  the  panorama,  are  effective  enough  to  prevent 
me  from  jumping  down  to  get  to  the  beauti- 
ful scene.  If,  on  the  contrary,  I  dream  of  the  same 
situation  in  my  sleep  I  make  the  leap  and  remain  fly- 
ing in  the  air,  because  my  unconscious  associations 
are  at  rest  or  dissociated.     Of  this  more  anon. 

7.  Intelligence.  By  the  term  Intelligence  we  in- 
dicate the  power  of  giving  proper  order  and  clearness 
to  impressions  from  the  outer  world  and  the  ideas 
imparted  to  us  by  others  through  written  or  spoken 
words.  An  intelligent  person  seldom  misunder- 
stands; he  is  quick  and  sure  of  apprehension,  and  can 
therefore  not  only  learn  a  great  deal  by  heart  and 


28  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

repeat  it,  which  indeed  certain  idiots  with  a  gigantic 
memory  can  also  do  to  an  amazing  extent,  but  can 
also  seize  it  clearly  and  apply  it  properly.  Intelli- 
gence can  have  different  bents.  One  person  easily 
understands  abstract  deductions  and  consequently 
has  a  good  mathematical  intelligence.  Another  ob- 
serves well  and  is  especially  good  at  retaining  and 
associating  the  impressions  of  the  senses;  so  that  in- 
ductive reasonings  by  analogy  are  more  in  his  line 
and  he  has  more  intelligence  for  natural  sciences.  A 
third  has  more  perception  for  forms  of  speech  or 
history  or  something  else.  What  we  call  talent  is  a 
matter  of  developed  intelligence;  but  it  can  be  very 
one-sided.  One  can  be  intelligent  or  full  of  intelli- 
gence in  one  direction,  unintelligent  in  another.  So 
reproductive  talent  may  be  in  the  field  of  art,  the  deli- 
cate shading  of  feeling;  or  in  the  technique  of  move- 
ments. One  may  have  good  intelligence  for  music, 
painting,  and  gymnastics  and  very  little  in  the  field 
of  knowledge,  and  vice  versa. 

8  Imagination  or  fantasy  is  a  verjr  different 
faculty.  Memory  and  intelligence  repeat  impres- 
sions, take  them  up,  and  separate  the  important  from 
the  unimportant*  the  true  from  the  false.  But  they  al- 
ways move  more  or  less  in  paths  already  marked  out 
either  by  surrounding  nature  or  by  other  people. 
They  reproduce  but  do  not  produce.  Accomplished 
people  know  how  to  appropriate,  develop,  estimate, 
and  repeat  the  new  ideas  and  discoveries  and  crea- 
tions of  genius.     By  imagination,  on  the  contrary,  we 


WH  A  TARE  SPIRIT  A  ND  MIND  ?  29 

understand  the  power — very  often  connected,  to  be 
sure,  with  accomplishments  and  intelligence — of  mak- 
ing new  and  independent  combinations  of  mental 
impressions,  of  treading  new  paths  in  every  sphere,  un- 
trammelled by  the  routine  of  custom  and  convention, 
and  often  in  opposition  to  the  learning  of  the  schools 
and  to  customary  points  of  view.  Imagination  is 
called  plastic  because  it  does  not  repeat  what  has  been 
given  still  and  unchanged,  but  moulds  new  rela- 
tions like  dough  and  gives  everything  a  new  form. 
Whether  it  makes  the  most  extravagant  leaps,  as  in 
a  dream,  or  whether  by  its  combinations  it  discovers 
new  and  hidden  truths,  it  still  remains  the  elf  that 
dances  about  genius,  the  glittering  fruitful  mother  of 
inspiration.  In  its  creative  necessity,  in  the  zeal  of 
its  struggle  with  the  new  and  unknown,  it  often  sows 
rank  tares  along  with  the  kindliest  fruits,  and  thus 
gains  for  itself  the  deadly  hatred  of  the  sarcastic  ped- 
ants who  care  only  for  reproductive  intelligence. 
That  is  the  basest  ingratitude;  for  imagination  is  the 
mother-breast  at  which  they  feed,  and  they  have  no 
right  to  malign  it.  For  one  creative  imagination  there 
are  always  a  hundred  cultivated  minds  to  correct  its 
blunders  and  weed  out  the  tares,  so  that  the  field  is 
cleaned  up  long  before  new  products  arise.  I  speak, 
of  course,  only  of  new  products  of  the  imagination, 
and  not  of  the  mummified  and  crystallised  dogmas — 
of  the  religious  and  other  orthodoxies — which  have 
arisen  from  the  primitive  fantastic  imaginations 
of  our  grandmothers.     The  revision  and  correction 


30  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

of   products   of   the   imagination   by   intelligence   is 
indispensable. 

Imagination  is  active  in  two  main  directions:  (1) 
in  the  sphere  of  knowledge,  where  it  investigates,  dis- 
covers, and  broadens  what  we  know  in  all  directions, 
and  (2)  in  the  refinement  and  harmonising  of  the 
feelings  associated  with  sense-impressions  and  in  their 
portrayal,  i.e.,  in  the  field  of  art.  The  man  of  mere 
trained  intelligence  knows  much  that  others  have 
discovered  before  him,  judges  it  correctly,  and  sepa- 
rates the  true  from  the  false;  but  he  does  not  know 
how  to  produce  anything  new  from  his  own  head. 
The  investigator  and  discoverer  needs  imagination; 
though  if  he  lets  it  turn  somersaults,  as  in  a  dream, 
without  any  judgment,  then  what  he  sows  is  mostly 
tares.  But  if  he  has  judgment  he  weeds  out  the 
tares  from  the  other  products  of  his  imagination  and 
offers  his  fellowmen  abundant  useful  fruit.  The 
same  is  true  in  the  field  of  art.  There  are  artists  who 
are  merely  intelligent — good  copyists ,  good  repro- 
ducers of  the  work  of  others.  But  there  are  also 
artistic  geniuses,  who  create  something  new,  though 
if  their  products  contain  much  trash  their  art  is  not 
beautiful. 

9.  Reason.  Perhaps  the  best  definition  of  this  is 
the  ability  to  form  abstract  ideas  and  use  them  logi- 
cally. Reason  presupposes  a  harmonious  balance  of 
thought,  but  contains  a  shade  more  of  it  than  is  im- 
plied by  the  phrase  "  sound  human  understanding  " 
('ntelligence),  which  we  should  really  call  a  sound 


WH  A  T  ARE  SPIRIT  AND  MIND  ?  3 1 

human  reason.  The  man  of  reason  also  undoubtedly 
has  a  bit  of  healthy  plastic  imagination,  at  least  in 
the  field  of  perception.  But  the  great  test  of  reason 
is  self-knowledge — the  ability  to  value  one's  own 
powers  correctly,  without  either  overestimation  or 
underestimation.  Allied  with  this  is  the  ability  to 
know  others — to  observe,  judge,  and  estimate  them 
correctly.  The  man  of  reason  is  the  man  who  can 
accommodate  himself  best  to  all  the  circumstances  of 
life,  is  always  prepared,  distinguishes  the  true  from 
the  false  as  quickly  and  surely  as  possible,  computes 
the  future  correctly,  does  not  make  too  great  de- 
mands on  life,  holds  his  impulses  and  passions  firmly 
in  check  so  long  as  they  are  likely  to  be  injurious  or 
dangerous  to  himself  or  others,  and,  in  short,  preserves 
due  moderation  in  all  good  things,  avoids  what  is  bad, 
harmful,  or  dangerous,  does  not  allow  himself  to  get 
angry  or  excited,  and  can  manage  to  take  other  peo- 
ple and  the  things  of  nature  as  they  are,  to  elude  their 
dangers,  avoid  their  injuries,  and  turn  their  interests 
to  his  profit.  To  reason  belongs  also  a  correct,  well- 
fitting  development  of  the  will  and  the  feelings. 
Reason  is  thus  plastic  so  that,  like  imagination,  it  can 
be  moulded  and  fitted.  But  its  plasticity  is  more 
passive;  it  is  not  always  forcing  itself  to  make  new 
models;  it  is  modestly  content  to  accommodate  itself 
to  those  which  it  meets  along  its  path.  In  common 
speech  the  word  :'  intelligence ':  is  often  used  for 
"  reason." 

10.     Ethics.     By  ethics  or  morals  we  should  not 


32  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

understand  certain  historical  or  religious  dogmatic 
precepts,  like  Moses'  Ten  Commandments.  Ethics 
belongs  to  the  sphere  of  feeling  and  is  founded  on 
instinctive  feelings  or  emotional  excitements  of  sym- 
pathy or  fellow-feeling.  For  it  is  from  the  natural 
ethical  feelings  of  mankind  that  every  system  of 
ethical  dogmas  has  arisen.  From  his  very  nature 
man  is,  at  least  to  a  very  great  extent,  a  social  being, 
with  sympathy  for  those  who  are  nearest  to  him — 
the  wife  for  husband  and  children,  the  husband  for 
wife  and  children,  the  children  for  brothers  and  sisters 
and  parents.  What  rejoices  one  rejoices  the  other, 
and  what  pains  one  pains  the  other.  The  sympa- 
thetic feelings  spread  from  our  families  to  our 
friends,  from  friends  to  home,  from  home  to  native 
land,  from  native  land  to  humanity — yes,  even  to 
animals,  plants,  and  familiar  objects.  These  feel- 
ings are  innate  or  instinctive  in  human  beings.  Any 
one  who  does  not  possess  them  is  a  monster,  a  moral 
idiot,  a  born  criminal.  Certain  theorists  have  tried 
to  build  up  ethics  on  selfish  interest.  But  that  is  a 
grievous  error.  No  one  could  lead  a  creature  of 
mere  reason  and  no  feeling  to  a  pure  social  ethics  or 
morality.  But  it  is  no  less  erroneous  to  assert,  as 
people  often  do,  that  egotism,  or  the  sum-total  of 
self-seeking  feelings,  stands  in  absolute  opposition 
to  altruism — the  moral,  or  sympathetic,  feelings.  In 
an  ideal  social  creature,  on  the  contrary,  there  should 
reign  the  greatest  harmony  between  the  sympathetic 
feelings  and  egoism;  that  is  to  say,  every  member 


WH  A  T  ARE  SPIRIT  AND  MIND  ?  33 

of  society  should   find   his   highest   pleasure   in  the 
pleasure  and  satisfaction  of  others  and  of  society  as 
a  whole,  as  we  see  in  the  communities  of  ants  and 
bees.      If  this  pleasure  were  as  great  with  men  we 
should  have  had  heaven  on  earth  long  ago,  and  should 
have  needed  no  laws,  no  governments,  no  punish- 
ments.     But  unfortunately  the  ethical   feelings  of 
men  are  very  incomplete;  there  still  lives  in  us  far 
too  much  of  the  beast  of  prey  that  finds  its  pleasure 
in  the  suffering  of  others,  or  at  least  satisfies  its  own 
selfishness  at  the  cost  of  others'  pleasure.     Love  thy 
neighbour    as    thyself    and    the    Whole    more    than 
either;  that  is  the  only  moral  commandment  of  man- 
kind as  it  should  be.     If  to  this  it  is  added:  Love 
thine  enemy,  we  must  reply,  so  long  as  there  are  ene- 
mies amongst  men  no  pure,  spontaneous  social  ethics 
is  possible  and  we  have  to  use  makeshifts.     There  are 
two  forms  of  ethical  feeling:  pure  love  or  sympathy, 
which  is  a  rather  pleasant  feeling,  and  conscience, 
which  consists  of  a  set  of  unpleasurable  feelings  that 
rise  in  us  when  we  injure  others  or  do  or  wish  some- 
thing antisocial  or  wicked,  and  urge  us  to  avoid  the 
wicked  or  antisocial  and  to  do  what  is  altruistic  or 
social.     The  feelings  of  conscience  demand  that  in 
spite  of  all  disturbing  impulses  of  selfish  pleasure  we 
shall  do  what  we  call  our  duty,  or  what  we  believe  we 
ought  to  do  for  the  welfare  of  others  and  of  society, 
and  leave  undone  what  we  ought  not  to  do.     It  can 
be  seen  from  this  that  to  fulfil  our  duty  as  conscience 
demands,  involves  remarkably  complex  combinations 


34  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

of  ideas,  subtile  feelings,  and  voluntary  acts.  While 
the  feeling  of  duty  is  in  itself  to  a  large  extent  a  na- 
tive inheritance,  inheritance  does  not  usually  tell  us 
what  our  duty  is;  that  is  a  matter  of  education  and 
habit,  acquired  through  moral  rules  and  customs. 
But  there  are  people  whose  native  composition  con- 
tains little  or  no  conscience — no  sympathy  whatever 
with  others  or  with  society.  With  such  moral  de- 
fectives the  tendency  to  do  their  duty  can  only  be 
impressed  to  some  extent  through  habit,  and  it  is 
not  very  lasting. 

11.  Esthetics.  The  aesthetic  feeling  is  the  feel- 
ing for  the  beautiful.  Art  is  founded  on  aesthetic 
imagination,  or  imagination  in  the  field  of  emotion. 
This  is  not  the  place  to  go  into  the  subject  any  fur- 
ther. It  should  be  remarked,  nevertheless,  that  art 
finds  its  foundation  or  motive  mainly  in  the  imitative 
tendency,  then  in  the  desire  for  self-expression  (in- 
cluding, according  to  Groos,  pleasure  in  one's  own 
movement,  one's  own  song,  and  so  forth,)  and  in  the 
need  for  harmony  in  variety.  Intimations  of  this  are 
to  be  found  even  in  the  lower  animals,  e.g.,  in  birds. 
Human  art  seeks  mainly  to  arouse  strong  feeling. 

12.  Instincts.  These  are  primitive  impulses  de- 
rived from  our  brute  ancestors  and  intimately  con- 
nected with  the  preservation  of  the  individual  and  the 
species.  They  are  experienced  as  obscure  inward 
feelings  and  at  the  same  time  as  tendencies  to  action. 
Indeed  the  feeling  and  the  impulse  to  action  are  al- 
most identical.     The  typical  instincts  are  hunger  and 


WH  A  T  ARE  SPIRIT  AND  MIND  ?  35 

the  impulse  to  eat,  thirst  and  the  impulse  to  drink 
(water,  not  alcohol),  the  feelings  and  impulses  of 
sex,  fear  and  the  tendency  to  be  paralysed  or  to 
run,  anger  and  the  impulse  to  be  avenged,  love  and 
the  impulse  of  self-sacrifice.  Feelings  are  often 
mixed,  like  the  compound  of  love  or  conscience  and 
anger  which  is  sometimes  aroused  by  the  bad  acts  of 
others.  When  an  impulse  goes  beyond  the  satisfac- 
tion of  the  natural  needs  necessary  for  the  preserva- 
tion of  life  and  is  cultivated  expressly  for  itself  and 
the  pleasant  feelings  it  produces,  it  is  called  a  passion 
(Leidenschaft) .  Human  beings  have  a  vast  number 
of  artificial  passions  which  are  cultivated  by  example 
and  habit,  and  no  longer  have  anything  to  do  with 
natural  impulses;  as,  for  example,  many  sports  and 
games. 

13.  Suggestion.  By  suggestion  is  understood  a 
very  peculiar  kind  of  psychic  {i.e.,  mental),  or,  more 
properly,  psycho-physical,  reaction,  in  which  an  idea 
— usually  connected  with  a  perception — becomes  so 
intense  and  narrow,  the  mind  becomes  so  filled  with 
"  one  idea,"  that  this  idea  loses  its  ordinary  associa- 
tions with  its  corrective  counter-ideas,  breaks  violently 
through  common  restrictions  and  releases  cerebral 
activities  that  are  usually  independent  of  it  and  gen- 
erally, if  not  always,  subconscious.  Suggestion  dis- 
sociates what  is  otherwise  associated.  Brains  in 
which  dissociation  is  easy  are  therefore  especially  sug- 
gestible. Suggestion  generally  releases  those  activi- 
ties whose  content  is  such  that  they  can  be  pictured 


36  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NER  VES 

by  the  senses,  and  does  it  in  such  a  way  that  the 
:'  subject "  is  unconscious  throughout  of  the  means 
by  which  it  takes  place  and  is  therefore  astonished  at 
what  happens.  Often,  on  the  other  hand,  an  idea 
leads  by  autosuggestion  to  the  very  opposite  of  what 
was  suggested.  I  say  to  some  one,  "  You  are  sleepy, 
you  are  yawning,"  and  involuntarily  he  yawns.  The 
suggestion  has  succeeded  and  he  is  already  hypno- 
tised. I  lay  his  arm  on  his  head  and  say  to  him  that 
it  is  stiff  and  he  cannot  take  it  down  again;  and  he 
can  not.  Now  I  say,  "  You  see  a  blue  bird  flying  in 
front  of  you  ";  he  sees  it.  I  say  further,  "  You  are 
blind  and  cannot  see  anything  any  more  " ;  he  no 
longer  sees.  These  are  all  suggestions — sensory, 
motor,  positive,  and  negative.  The  negative  extin- 
guish and  confine.  But  if  I  say  to  some  one,  ':  Your 
head  is  cool,  your  feet  are  warm,"  and  instead  of  that 
he  gets  headache  and  cold  feet,  then  the  case  is  one  of 
autosuggestion  [or  countersuggestion] .  The  con- 
ception of  suggestion  is  identical  with  that  of  hypno- 
tism;— hypnosis,  or  the  hypnotic  condition,  is  a 
graduated  sleep  induced  by  suggestion.  The  sleep 
increases  the  suggestibility.  Yet  the  mechanism  and 
the  results  of  suggestion  are  of  the  same  sort  whether 
one  is  awake  or  asleep.  In  sleep  the  dissociation  is 
general;  in  the  waking  condition,  partial  and  cir- 
cumscribed. Faith,  the  imitative  impulse  and  all 
that  carries  the  brain's  action  away  with  it  and  makes 
one  follow  blindly — all  this  carries  with  it  more  or 
less  obvious  effects  of  suggestion.       Suggestive  in- 


WH A  T  ARE  SPIRJ T  AND  MIND  ?  37 

fluences  come  mainly  from  other  people,  but  also  from 
books,  things,  emotional  impressions,  etc.  To  pursue 
this  interesting  question  any  further  here  would  lead 
us  too  far  afield;  and  I  therefore  refer  the  reader  to 
my  book  on  hypnotism,1  merely  adding  that  "  hys- 
teria "  rests  on  a  pathological  tendency  to  dissociation, 
or  pathological  suggestibility  and  autosuggestibility. 
14.  Language.  Before  we  leave  psychology  we 
must  inquire  into  the  nature  of  language  by  which 
man  is  so  far  removed  from  other  animals.  There  is 
a  mimetic  or  sign  language,  a  spoken  language,  and 
a  written  language.  Language  is  the  coinage  of 
thought.  Just  as  coins  and  paper  dollars  are  sym- 
bols and  tokens  of  material  value  in  general,  so  words 
and  other  linguistic  expressions  are  symbols  to  rep- 
resent individual  ideas,  feelings,  abstract  notions,  per- 
ceptions, general  conceptions,  and  other  single  mental 
conditions  or  groups  of  conditions.  The  word  "  blue  " 
is  a  convenient  symbol  for  a  colour  experience, 
"love"  for  a  certain  emotion;  the  word  "  run ,:  is 
the  linguistic  coin  to  represent  a  group  of  movement- 
impressions  and  experiences,  and  '  bird ':  is  the 
symbol  for  a  very  complex  set  of  experiences  from 
different  senses  and  the  kind  of  "  thing  "  outside  of 
us  by  which  we  explain  them;  and  so  forth.  This 
same  word  "  bird,"  or  any  other,  can  be  represented 
to  the  senses  through  spoken  sounds  or  various  writ- 
ten signs  or  pantomimic  gestures,  just  as  the  value  of 
ten  dollars  can  be  represented  by  a  bill,  a  gold  coin, 

1  Fourth  edition,  F.  Enke,  publisher,  Stuttgart. 


38  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NER  VES 

a  cheque,  or  a  pile  of  silver  pieces.  Language  is 
thus  a  system  of  symbols  of  thought.  Since  a  parrot 
does  not  symbolise  any  thought  in  its  talk,  that  talk 
is  not  speech  or  language  at  all.  Unfortunately  the 
speech  of  human  beings  often  contains  a  good  deal  of 
parrot-talk,  with  no  thoughts  in  the  head  of  the 
speaker  to  correspond  to  his  words: 

Denn   eben  wo   Begriffe   fehlen, 

Da  stellt  ein  Wort  zur  rechten  Zeit  sich  ein.1 

To  correspond  with  thought,  languages  must  pro- 
vide for  the  proper  inflection  and  combination  of 
words,  and  accordingly  the  science  of  language  is  di- 
vided into  two  parts:  grammar,  or  the  inflection  of 
words;  and  syntax,  or  the  construction  of  sentences. 
This  shows  that  the  symbolism  of  language  demands 
very  complicated  mental  work.  But  without  it  we 
cannot  do  the  far  more  complicated  work  demanded 
by  consistent  abstract  thought  and  its  application  to 
feeling  and  willing. 

Language  includes  not  only  words  and  the  hiero- 
glyphics of  the  ancients,  monuments  and  memorials, 
but  also  all  the  arithmetical,  algebraic,  chemical,  and 
other  mathematical  and  scientific  symbols  which  are 
used  by  general  consent  to  represent  definite  mental 
processes.  Language  is  thus  in  the  main  an  artificial 
product  of  convention,  which  has  grown  out  of  the 
natural  need  of  human  beings  to  make  themselves  in- 
telligible to  each  other;  and  now  it  is  so  bound  up  or 
associated  in  our  minds  with  our  thoughts  and  feel- 

i  For  where  ideas  are  lacking 
A  word  steps  in  to  take  their  place. — Faust. 


WHAT  ARE  SPIRIT  AND  MIND  ?  39 

ings  that  it  is  scarcely  possible  to  think  without  it. 
The  abstract  idea  "  four,"  for  example,  is  tied  up 
with  the  written  or  spoken  word  "  four,"  as  well  as 
with  the  arithmetical  symbol  "4." 

According  to  what  has  been  said,  every  language 
whatever,  whether  of  sounds,  writing,  or  symbols?  has 
two  sides;  speaking  [or  expression  of  any  sort],  and 
understanding. 

a.  Speaking  [or  expressing  the  thought^.  This 
can  be  divided  into  three  psychological  phases  or 
periods:  (1)  preparation,  (2)  diction, (3)  articulation. 

The  preparation  for  speech  is  simply  the  disposi- 
tion or  association  of  the  ideas  which  one  wishes  to 
express.     To  this  we  need  not  recur. 

The  diction.  By  this  I  mean  the  particular  sym- 
bols of  speech  in  our  minds — the  selection  of  the 
coins  of  thought.  Before  we  can  express  ourselves 
either  verbally  or  in  writing  we  must  choose  words 
and  constructions  in  our  brain  from  the  supply  that 
we  already  possess.  But  the  words  and  sentences 
themselves  consist  of  memory-images  of  the  sounds  or 
written  characters  which  we  have  perceived  by  hear- 
ing or  sight.  It  is  obviously  easier  to  pronounce  or 
write  the  three  letters  of  the  word  "  dog  '  than  to 
imagine  before  us  all  the  dogs  we  have  ever  seen  or 
heard;  and  from  that  we  can  see  how  much  language 
simplifies  thought.  But  if  we  are  to  express  our 
thoughts  it  is  absolutely  necessary  for  them  to 
arouse  a  representation  of  the  motor  impulse  which 
is   necessary   for  the   production  of   the   spoken   or 


4o  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

written  word.  There  are  therefore  subconscious 
memories  of  motor  impulses  which  complete  the  ma- 
terial for  actual  diction.  We  shall  see  directly  that 
this  has  been  abundantly  proved.  When  the  proper 
expression  is  once  found,  the  mind  or  brain  must  give 
the  order  to  execute  the  proper  movements,  and  this 
execution  is  called  articulation.  Then  the  articula- 
tion is  carried  out  quite  subconsciously  (uncon- 
sciously for  our  "I")  by  the  lower  nerve  centres 
with  the  help  of  muscles  and  other  bodily  apparatus 
(tongue,  larynx,  etc.,  or  arm  and  hand) .  Certain 
affections  of  these  lower  nerve  centres  can  disturb  art- 
iculations quite  as  much  as  muscular  paralysis  or  phys- 
ical deformities,  such  as  malformations  in  the  bones 
of  the  palate ;  for  they  cause  stammering  and  stutter- 
ing, nasal  intonation,  and  other  defects  of  speech. 

b.  Understanding.  In  order  that  you  should  un- 
derstand some  one  else's  language  it  is  necessary  (1) 
that  the  articulate,  verbal,  written,  or  mimetic  signs 
should  impress  your  senses,  and  (2)  call  up  by  asso- 
ciation in  your  brain  memory-images  that  correspond 
to  the  thought  of  the  speaker.  That  assumes  that 
similar  symbols  such  as  words  and  sentences  (whether 
the  symbols  be  verbal,  written,  or  mimetic)  call  up 
similar  ideas  in  both  minds.  This  is  a  bold  assump- 
tion, but  it  is  necessary  for  mutual  understanding, 
and  is  commonly  accepted  without  further  ado, 
though,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  it  is  generally  only  partly 
true  and  very  unsatisfactory.  People  often  misun- 
derstand each  other  more  than  they  understand,  even 


WH  A  T  ARE  SPIRIT  AND  MIND  ?  41 

when  they  have  both  always  spoken  the  same  lan- 
guage and  the  same  dialect. 

Nowhere  better  than  in  speech  can  we  perceive  the 
unity  (which  we  have  still  to  discuss)  between  brain 
and  mind.  Not  only  when  we  speak  does  diction  or 
the  choice  of  motor  impulses  demand  different  "  cen- 
tres "  or  parts  of  the  brain  for  verbal,  written,  and 
mimetic  expression  (each  of  the  three  definitely  loc- 
alised and  separated  from  the  other  two),  but  these 
centres  for  motor  speech  are  different  from  the  cen- 
tres where  speech  is  understood.  One  person  may 
speak  out  loud,  clearly  and  intelligently,  and  yet  fail 
to  understand  what  is  said  by  another,  though  he  is 
not  deaf;  while  a  second  understands  what  other  peo- 
ple say  perfectly  well  but  can  no  longer  express  him- 
self, and  uses  one  word  in  place  of  another.  He 
notices  it,  and  it  annoys  him,  but  he  cannot  correct 
it.  These  two  pathological  conditions  correspond  to 
disturbances  in  two  totally  different  parts  of  the 
brain:  the  so-called  speech  centre  or  centre  for  motor 
speech  [Broca's  convolution],  and  the  centre  for 
mental  hearing  [Wernicke's  convolution]  ;  the  former 
for  co-ordinated  motor  impulses,  the  latter  for  the 
recollection  of  co-ordinated  images  of  sound.  At  the 
same  time,  both  of  the  patients  in  question  might  be 
able  to  write  without  any  disturbance  and  to  read  and 
understand  writing. 

To  remember  the  sound  of  a  word  that  we  have 
heard  is  of  course  not  the  same  as  to  understand 
whole  sentences  and  speeches.     In  other  words,  there 


42  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

is  a  step  between  the  centripetal  process  of  hearing 
the  bare  words  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  understand- 
ing of  what  is  said,  on  the  other;  for  the  latter  in- 
volves the  association  of  the  verbal  images — [a  central 
process].  This  again  goes  back  to  real  thinking,  and 
there  it  is  connected  with  the  preparation  of  the 
answer. 

Thus  in  language,  or  the  mutual  influences  of  two 
minds  upon  each  other  by  means  of  symbols  of 
thought,  we  see  in  action  the  whole  complicated 
mechanism  of  sense-organs,  sense-perceptions, 
thought,  will,  and  movement. 

We  saw  above  how  unreliable  our  memory  is  in  it- 
self and  how  our  recollections  are  constantly  twisted. 
Language,  especially  written  language,  serves  better 
than  anything  else  to  obviate  the  unfaithfulness  of 
memory.  The  very  words  which  we  use  as  symbols 
help  to  define  and  preserve  the  idea  and  if  this  is 
followed  by  writing  or  printing,  the  bottom  is  taken 
out  of  every  later  deception,  so  long  as  ambiguities 
of  expression  do  not  permit  various  interpretations. 

In  this  short  sketch  it  is  impossible  to  enter  upon 
deeper  psychological  problems,  and  I  beg  every 
reader  who  would  like  to  know  more  to  read  the 
Analysis  of  the  Sensations  by  C.  Mach,  and  above  all 
Höffding's  Outlines  of  Psychology.1 

1  Both  of  these  books  are  to  be  had  in  English.  The  former  is  published 
by  the  Open  Court  Publishing  Co.,  the  latter  by  Macmillan.  Amongst 
English  books  the  most  brilliant  and  interesting  is  undoubtedly  the  two- 
volume  Psychology  or  the  Briefer  Course  by  William  James,  both  pub- 
lished by  Henry  Holt  &  Co.— Tr. 


CHAPTER  II 

ANATOMY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  SYSTEM 

THE  nervous  system  can  be  best  compared  to  a 
beautifully  compact  little  electric  plant.  The 
work  of  the  accumulator  is  performed  by  the  grey 
matter  with  its  ganglion  cells  (or  nerve  cells)  in  the 
brain,  the  spinal  cord,  and  the  ganglionic  nodules,  or 
nervous  tubercles,  scattered  throughout  the  body; 
that  of  the  wires  by  the  nerve  fibres  which  are  really 
fascicles  or  bundles  of  nerve  fibrils  and  are  found 
both  in  the  "  centres  "  just  referred  to  and  in  the 
thread-like  "  peripheral  "  nerves.  These  latter  must 
not  be  regarded  as  separate  parts  of  the  nervous  sys- 
tem. They  are  only  direct  continuations  of  the  bun- 
dles of  fibres  in  the  brain,  the  spinal  cord,  and  the 
ganglia,  which  serve  to  connect  them  on  the  one  side 
with  the  sense-organs  which  receive  impressions  and 
on  the  other  with  the  elastic  muscles  through  which 
we  make  the  appropriate  reaction.  To  give  some 
idea  of  the  fineness  of  this  apparatus  we  can  say  that 
the  finest  nerve  fibrils  are  hardly  one  two-thousandth 
part  of  a  millimetre  [one  fifty-thousandth  of  an  inch] 
in  diameter,  while  the  very  largest  ganglion  cells  are 
scarcely  visible  to  a  good  eye.     A  peripheral  nerve, 

43 


44  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

which  connects  various  parts  of  the  body  with  the  cen- 
tral nervous  system,  consists  of  a  bundle  of  medullated 
nerve  fibres  which  issue  from  the  brain,  the  spinal 
cord,  or  the  ganglia  and  continually  divides  into  finer 
branches.  The  thickest  nerves  are  thicker  than  a 
quill,  but  their  finest  branches  are  not  visible.  The 
brain  of  an  adult  weighs  1.25  to  1.5  kilograms  [2.75 
to  3.3  pounds],  and  so  far  as  mass  is  concerned  the 
spinal  cord  and  the  ganglia  are  only  insignificant  and 
subordinate  attachments  to  it.  With  the  lower  ver- 
tebrates, on  the  contrary,  the  brain  is  very  little  more 
prominent  than  the  other  nervous  '  centres ,:  or 
divisions  of  the  central  nervous  system,  and  sinks 
correspondingly  in  significance.  With  human  beings 
the  brain  is  the  organ  of  the  mind  and  there  is  far 
more  justification  in  what  we  know  nowadays  for  say- 
ing, "  The  brain  is  the  man  "  than  Buffon  had  in  his 
time  for  saying,  "  The  style  is  the  man." 

To  be  brief,  let  us  refer  to  the  figures  and  their  ex- 
planation. First  of  all  we  get  a  knowledge  of  the 
fine,  histological  elements  of  the  nervous  system — 
cells,  fibres,  and  fibrils — of  which  the  nervous  tissue  is 
made  up;  they  are  about  the  same  everywhere.  The 
spaces  between  them  are  penetrated  by  very  small 
nutritive  blood-vessels,  and  it  all  lies  in  a  "  support- 
ing "  network  of  exceedingly  fine  tissue,  the  neurog- 
lia, which,  however,  does  not  belong  to  the  nervous 
substance  and  discharges  no  nervous  functions. 

Like  all  bodily  tissue,  nervous  tissue  consists  of 
cells,   and  these  are  generally  grouped  in  ganglia. 


ANA  TOMY  OF  THE  NER  VO  US  SYSTEM         45 
But   these   cells   possess   such   complicated   tree-like 


Dendritic  processes 


Nerve   process  or 

axis-cylinder 
process. 


Medullary  sheath. 
Axis- cylinder 


The  nerve  cell  or 
cell-body 

Endings  of  a  col- 
lateral at  a  small 
cell. 

Collateral 
branches. 


Axis-cylinder  pro- 
cess developed 
into  a  nerve 
fibre 

Terminal  aboriza- 
rion  or  branch- 
ing of  the  nerve. 


Basket  -  like  end- 
ings of  a  gang- 
lion cell 


Fig.  1. — Schematic  Drawing  of  a  Neurone 

(Cell  of  the  First  Category) 

branches  and  such  tremendously  long  fibrous  (or  fila- 
mentous)   continuations  that  the  complex  whole  of 


46 


MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 


ganglion  cell  and  tree-like  fibre  belonging  to  it,  to- 
gether with  all  the  fibrils,  has  been  called  by  a  special 
name,  a  neurone.     What  we  know  most  surely  about 


c— —  Sheath  of  Schwann 


Medullary  sheath 

Axis-cylinder    and      its 
nerve  fibrils 


Fig.  2.     Schematic  Drawing  of  a   Section   of  a    Peripheral  Nerve 

Fibre,  Shown  in  Perspective  as  Though  it  were  Transparent. 
The  dark  axis-cylinder  and  its  nerve  fibrils  are  supposed  to  be  seen  through  the 

sheath  of  Schwann  and  the  medullary  sheath.      (Enormously  magnified  and 

schematic.) 

the  neurones  is  this,  that  when  the  cell  is  destroyed 
all  the  branches  of  fibres  belonging  to  it  atrophy,  and 
vice  versa,  when  the  principal  fibre  is  cut  out  the  cell 
belonging  to  it,  and  only  that  one,  atrophies.1 


Nucleus  of  the  cylindrical 
cell  of  the  sheath  of  Schwann 

Fig.  3.     Structure  of  a  Peripheral  Nerve  Fibre  (Schematic). 

Like  other  bodily  cells,  every  ganglion  cell  consists 
of  protoplasm  with  a  nucleus  and  nucleolus.  By 
protoplasm  we  mean  cellular  substance  in  general, 

>  Forel,  Arch,  f,  Psychiatr.,  1687, 


ANATOMY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  SYSTEM        47 

The  cell  has  two  kinds  of  continuations  or  '  pro- 
cesses." The  first,  which  are  numerous,  are  called 
protoplasmic  processes  or  dendrites  ( Fig.  1 ) .  These 
look  exactly  like  the  protoplasm  of  the  cell,  and 
branch  thickly  like  a  tree,  but  they  remain  relatively 
thick  and  end  bluntly  at  a  short  distance  from  the 
cell.     But  the  cell  also  possesses  a  single  nerve  pro- 

/fyf^^^^if.^    Nucleus     of     the 
/f*TC;^U>»-Aj^v-^p^  ganglion  cell 

^VvSlMSfäSföfc ^3&-4 -    Nucleolus. 

^»^a^]^/T7  ■"  Netwrrk   of  nerve 

\H, '*-.  fibrils 

^*Kv^Wh^    ~~~  Protoplasm  of  the 

^*Mr  ganglion  cell. 


Nerve    fibre    with 
fibrils. 


Fig.  4.     Network  of  Nerve  Fibrils  in  the  Protoplasm  of  a    Leech's 

Ganglion  Cell 
(After  Apathy). 

cess,  which  is  constructed  very  differently.  It  con- 
sists of  a  compact  bundle  of  the  finest  nerve  fibrils 
(Figs.  1  and  4),  which  surround  the  nucleus  of  the 
ganglion  cell  like  a  web,  and,  as  Apathy  has  shown  in 
the  case  of  the  leech,  undoubtedly  form  a  network  in 
the  protoplasm  around  it  ( Fig.  4 ) .  In  the  nerve 
process  itself,  on  the  contrary,  the  fibrils  run  along 
beside  each  other  without  branching,  directly  from 
the  cell  to  some  distant  destination    (Figs.   2,   4). 


43 


MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 


This  nerve  process  soon  envelops  itself  in  a  bright 
white,  strongly  refractive,  "  medullary  sheath 3: 
(Figs.  2,  3). 

Ganglion  cells  are  divided  into  two  classes  accord- 
ing to  the  relations  of  their  nerve  processes.  The 
first  have  a  purely  central  function,  for  their  nerve 
process  soon  divides  and  the  finest  fibrils  go  to  other 
cells  near  by,  at  whose  surface  they  end  (Apathy  be- 
lieves that  they  penetrate  into  the  cells ) .  These  are 
the  Golgi  cells  of  the  second  category. 


End- 
plate; 
the  fi- 
bres in  it 
branch  - 
ing  into 
fibrils. 


Two  termi- 
nal branches 
of  a  motor 
nerve   fibre. 

Te  rm  i  n  al 
branching  of 
the  axis-cyl- 
inder. 


■s*  Two  muscle 
fibres. 


Fig.  5.     End-Plates  of  Two  Nerve  Fibres  in  Two  Muscle  Fibres. 

Here  the  nerve  fibres  are  themselves  branches  of  a  larger  fibre.      Their 

branching  fibrils  terminate  in  end-plates.     (Magnified  about  400  times.) 

The  nerve  process  of  the  others  (of  the  Golgi  cells 
of  the  first  class ) ,  on  the  contrary,  gives  out  a  few 
fibrillar  twigs  at  first,  but  soon  surrounds  itself  with 
a  strong  medullary  sheath  and  then  continues  without 
losing  it  and  without  branching  or  with  only  occa- 
sional divisions  to  a  distant,  often  very  distant,  des- 
tination in  some  muscle  or  sense-organ,  or  perhaps 


ANATOMY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  SYSTEM 


49 


in  a  ganglion  cell  belonging  to  some  other  part  of 
the  central  nervous  system.  In  this  long  course  it 
bears  the  character  of  a  "nerve  fibre"  (Fig.  1). 
Sometimes  such  nerve  fibres  branch  once  or  more  in 
their  course,  as  in  the  case  of  the  optic  nerve.  The 
ends  of  the  fibres,  wherever  they  may  be,  always 
branch  out  like  trees,  the  bundles  of  fibrils  splitting 
up,  and  the  medullary  sheath  growing  thinner  and 


Terminal       winding 
of  the  nerve  fibrils. 


•--    Terminal  branching 
of  the  nerve  fibre. 


Fig.  6.     Tactile  Corpuscle  (Corpuscle   of  Meissner)  from  a  Papilla 

at  the  Tip  of  a  Toe  or  Finger  ;  the  Fibrils  from  a  Sensory 

Nerve  are  Wound  Around  it. 

(Enlarged  about  500  times.) 

thinner  until  it  finally  almost  disappears.  Some  of 
these  branching  ends  are  rolled  up  around  hair-folli- 
cles or  papillae  in  the  skin  (Fig.  6)  ;  others,  like  birds' 
claws,  surround  the  body  of  other  ganglion  cells 
(Fig.  1)  ;  others  again  are  buried  in  the  muscular 
fibre  (Fig.  5).  From  the  cells  in  which  they  origi- 
nate to  their  branching  termination  the  nerve  pro- 
cesses must  act  like  insulated  telegraph  or  telephone 
wires,    and    the    function    of   the    neurones    is    very 

4 


5o  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

different  according  to  the  different  organs  in  which 
they  end. 

The  peripheral  nerves  and  the  cells  of  the  ganglia, 
which  lie  free  in  the  body  and  have  to  stand  pressure 
and  tension,  are  also  each  surrounded  with  a  tough 
sheath  of  connective  tissue  named  after  the  discov- 
erer the  sheath  of  Schwann.  This  sheath  consists  of 
a  series  of  cylindrical  cells  with  an  elongated  nucleus 
in  each  (Fig.  3).  At  the  end  of  each  of  these  cells 
of  the  sheath  of  Schwann  there  is  a  so-called  node  of 
Ranvier  which  interrupts  the  medullary  sheath  but 
permits  the  nerve  process  to  pass  through.  The 
nerve  process  in  its  medullary  sheath  is  called  an 
axis-cylinder.  To  show  how  long  a  neurone  can  be 
we  will  only  say  that  there  are  ganglion  cells  in  the 
spinal  cord  whose  processes  enter  the  great  nerve  of 
the  leg,  the  sciatic,  as  nerve  fibres  and  continue  with- 
out branching  until  they  reach  the  muscles  of  the 
foot. 

Apathy,  to  be  sure,  has  propounded  a  new  hypo- 
thesis according  to  which  the  nerve  processes  are  not 
processes  of  the  ganglion  cells.  He  thinks  the  nerve 
fibrils  are  generated  in  the  embryo  by  tiny  nerve  cells 
scattered  throughout  the  body,  but  up  to  the  present 
seen  by  nobody  but  him  and  Bethe.  According  to 
this,  the  fibrils  enter  the  ganglion  cells  only  after- 
wards and  from  without.  But  this  hypothesis  con- 
tradicts too  many  facts  to  be  accepted  just  yet.  The 
uniform  death  of  the  neurone  when  injured  in  one 
place  is  decided  evidence  to  the  contrary.     So  is  the 


ANATOMY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  SYSTEM  51 

fact  observed  by  His  that  in  the  embryo  the  nerve 
fibres  grow  directly  out  of  the  ganglion  cells.  Re- 
cently R.  G.  Harrison  has  succeeded  in  destroying 
the  embryological  foundation  of  the  sheath  of 
Schwann  in  the  peripheral  motor  nerves  of  amphibia.1 
It  is  from  this  sheath  of  Schwann,  according  to 
Apathy,  Bethe,  and  the  other  opponents  of  the  neu- 
rone theory,  that  the  nerve  cells  which  are  supposed 
to  engender  the  fibres  are  derived.  But  now  Har- 
rison reports  that  axis-cylinders  of  the  peripheral 
motor  nerves  were  completely  developed  from  the 
ganglion  cells,  as  His  had  previously  maintained, 
without  any  trace  of  the  sheath  of  Schwann,  after  the 
embryological  foundation  of  the  latter  had  been 
destroyed. 

The  following  fact  also  is  very  important.  When 
we  count  the  number  of  nerve  fibres  in  the  oculomotor 
nerve  of  a  new-born  cat  we  discover  that  they  are 
approximately  the  same  as  in  a  grown-up  cat,  al- 
though in  the  latter  the  nerve  is  six  or  eight  times  as 
thick.  The  explanation  is  that  the  medullary  sheaths 
are  extraordinarily  thin  at  first  and  increase  in  cir- 
cumference with  age,  so  that  the  diameter  of  the 
fibres  in  a  cat  four  weeks  old  is  almost  three  times  as 
great  as  in  one  just  born,  and  in  a  cat  one  or  two 
years  old  six  or  eight  times  as  great.  If  this  is  true 
generally,    we    must    suppose    that    the    number    of 

1  Sitzungsber.  der  Niederrhein.  Gesellschaft  f.  Natur-und  Heilkunde 
in  Bonn,  1904.  [See  also  his  more  recent  article:  "  Further  Experi- 
ments on  the  Development  of  Peripheral  Nerves  "  in  Am.  Jour,  of  Anat- 
omy, vol. v.,  pp,  121-131.] 


Frontal  lobes.  ~    '(     /     /        ^     - 

Ail    /  .  (  i    1  (rr-T- jr-Ti Olfactory  bulbs. 

v^s  /  ■// 

,-^Jjl       J      iTrÜP*"^' Olfactory  tract. 

Fissure  of  Sylvius.     --»^J..  \      _     \:  ;  •       J   1\    j    ~~ 

:  \§    -/                               \  Optic  cbiasm  (cross- 

Temporal  lobes,     —f^l       .>  ^^^"^^1"%"  mg    °\  ^    °PtiC 

^     ,                                     //       •   ^>^            \       J^S.         Ai  nerves). 

Oculomotor     nerves       //      /  1^           '  rN\                                          K  • 

between  optic  and       h      {(     x         /   ; '  ^— '=•  ^            _L-— — p"~  Trifacial    (mostly 

trifacial.                         I]     j           \      A       ,~i     ^y'/""  sensory). 

i    A,     v      /    y^v  ■  V£  -.  -~--4*>—  -  —  —  sr-^-r —  Oculiabducens. 

..            [\ ■■',  S.     V  .^.'y^vy Wy      i-^>^ — ii_  Facial   (mostly    mo- 

Pyramids.     ^tXrj~"^~~^-j/);^<^^_  ___;/'  tor). 

Yi/',^{'/^^^^                                   "'  •'"/"""  ^erves    °f    bearing 

l^^pi^:,  aDdtaste- 

Kl5^ Cerebellum. 

.■w«P ■ Cervical  enlargement 

*  K^  of  the  spinal  cord. 

f 

*i» Spinal  ganglia. 

A  spinal  nerve. 


.Lumbar  enlarge- 
ment of  the  spinal 
cord. 


Human  Brain  and  Spinal  Cord. 

One-third  natural  size.  The  brain  is  seen  from 
below,  and  the  cord  (which  is  bent  back)  from 
in  front. 


52 


ANATOMY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  SYSTEM 


53 


neurones  or  nervous  elements  does  not  increase  from 
birth  to  maturity.  Moreover  it  is  known  that  if  a 
hemorrhage  or  other  injury  destroys  a  number  of 
neurones  in  the  brain  or  spinal  cord  these  are  never 
regenerated;  what  is  destroyed  remains  destroyed. 
These  two  facts  agree  conspicuously  and  make  it  ex- 
tremely probable  that  an  old  man's  neurones  are  the 
very  same  ones  that  he  had  at  birth,     I  believe  that 


Left  parietal  lobe.<     / 


Right  frontal  lobe. 


%c\  Prsecentral  convolu- 

tion      (ascending 
frontal). 

!§"-"    Fissure  of  Rolando. 

Post-central  convo- 
lution (ascending 
parietal). 


,' Right  occipital  lobe. 


Fig.  8.     Human  Cerebrum. 
One-third  natural  size.     Seen  from  above. 

these  facts  are  of  value  for  memory.  We  could 
scarcely  conceive  how  memory-images  could  remain 
in  the  brain  if  neurones  died  out  in  the  course  of  one's 
life  and  were  replaced  by  others.  And  now  how  are 
the  neurones  distributed  in  the  nervous  system? 
Let  us  begin  with  the  outside  of  the  body. 

Every  muscle  of  the  whole  body  is  provided  with 


54  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

nerves,  through  which  its  movements  are  regulated. 
The  principal  muscles,  which  we  move  by  a  direct  act 
of  will,  possess  branches  from  nerve  trunks  all  of 
which  have  their  origin  in  a  tall  column  of  large  gang- 
lion cells,  known  as  the  anterior  horns  of  the  spinal 
cord,  and  these  cells  and  fibres  form  a  vast  group  of 
neurones.  This  column  is  continued  into  the  base 
of  the  brain,  where  the  uppermost  cranial  nerves,  such 
as  the  optic  (the  nerve  of  sight)  and  the  oculomotor 
(controlling  the  movements  of  the  eye)  spring  from 
it.  But  there  is  also  a  great  amount  of  muscular 
tissue  in  the  intestines,  glands,  and  blood-vessels, 
which  acts  quite  mechanically  or  automatically  with 
a  peristaltic  or  worm-like  movement  (in  the  intestines) 
independent  of  our  will  and  knowledge.  These  mus- 
cles are  controlled  by  the  cells  of  ganglia  scattered 
throughout  the  body,  especially  by  the  ganglia  of  the 
sympathetic  nerve,  with  the  fibres  of  which  they  con- 
stitute other  systems  of  neurones.  At  the  same  time, 
all  these  ganglionic  neurones  send  out  collateral 
branches  of  thin  fibres  sideways  to  the  spinal  cord 
or  to  the  brain,  through  which  branches  they  receive 
commands  from  the  upper  story  (from  the  brain)  as 
the  occasion  arises  and  also  supply  it  with  news.  The 
ganglia  in  general  constitute,  so  to  speak,  colonies  of 
lower  animals  which  vegetate  in  our  body  like  polyps 
or  jelly-fish  and  automatically  direct  the  movements 
of  heart,  blood-vessels,  bowels,  uterus,  etc.  Yet 
they  may  receive  an  energetic  impulse  from  the  brain 
by  means  of  the  collateral  connections,  as  when  we 


ANATOMY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  SYSTEM         55 

blush  or  grow  pale  as  the  result  of  some  perception  or 
feeling. 

At  both  sides  of  the  spinal  cord  and  of  the  base  of 
the  brain  there  is  also  a  series  of  spinal  ganglia.  The 
nervous  process  of  their  cells  divides  like  a  T  into  two 
halves,  of  which  one  distributes  itself  about  the  gang- 
lion cells  of  the  posterior  horn  of  the  spinal  cord  and 
still  further,  while  the  other  runs  everywhere  to  the 
nerve  papillae  of  the  skin,  its  twigs  terminating 
around  these  papillae  and  around  the  hair-follicles. 
These  are  the  nerves  of  touch,  which  give  us  all  our 
sensations  of  contact,  cold,  warmth,  pain,  and  per- 
haps pleasure  by  sending  their  stimuli  to  the  brain. 
The  nerve  of  taste  is  similar  in  construction  to  that  of 
touch.  On  the  other  hand,  the  higher  sense-organs  of 
sight,  hearing,  and  smell  all  possess  a  highly  special- 
ised apparatus.  The  retina  of  the  eye,  the  organs  of 
Corti  in  the  cochlea  of  the  ear,  and  the  mucous  mem- 
brane of  the  nose  possess  peculiar  ganglion  cells  with 
very  complicated  end-organs  for  receiving  waves  of 
light  or  sound  or  odoriferous  chemical  particles. 
Another  special  nerve,  the  vestibular,  which  is  indis- 
tinguishable externally  from  the  auditory,  is  con- 
nected with  the  semicircular  canals  of  the  petrosal 
bone  in  the  inner  ear,  and  serves,  according  to  Mach, 
for  the  perception  of  the  body's  equilibrium  and  of 
changes  in  its  rate  of  movement;  its  end-organ  also 
has  a  very  peculiar  construction.  Thus  we  see,  our 
whole  body  is  shot  through  with  nervous  mechanisms. 
But  all  are  subject  to  the  direct  or  (in  the  case  of  the 


56  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

sympathetic  system)  indirect  control  of  the  great 
mass  of  the  brain;  for  all  the  neurones  of  the  spinal 
cord  are  directly  subordinate  to  the  brain. 

The  brain  and  spinal  cord  of  a  man,  like  those  of 
all  the  mammals,  form  a  coherent  mass,  consisting  of 
white  and  grey,  delicate,  yielding  substance.  We  all 
have  a  chance  to  observe  the  disposition  and  arrange- 
ment of  this  substance  when  we  eat  calf's  brain  for 
dinner.  The  white  substance  is  composed  almost  ex- 
clusively of  medullated  fibres  such  as  we  have  already 
described,  which  are  woven  criss-cross  through  each 
other  in  larger  or  smaller  bundles,  and  run  in  all  di- 
rections. Any  fragment  of  white  substance  shows  a 
section  of  this  fibrous  tissue  and  contains  portions  of 
neurones  which  often  originate  in  very  different  parts 
of  the  brain  and  spinal  cord  and  run  to  still  other 
parts.  They  are  not  telegraph  wires  stretched 
through  the  air.  No;  all  the  wires  run  in  a  thick 
mass  as  in  a  transatlantic  cable,  though  not  beside 
each  other,  but  woven  criss-cross  through  each  other, 
and  pressed  together  like  the  hairs  in  a  piece  of  felt. 
Nevertheless  the  ingenious  experiments  of  Waller, 
Tiirck,  and  von  Gudden,  and  the  workers  of  their 
school,  amongst  whom  I  have  the  honour  of  counting 
myself,  have  succeeded  in  unravelling  a  part  of  this 
tangle  of  fibres.  They  destroy  a  small,  definite  sec- 
tion of  an  animal's  nervous  system,  let  the  animal  live 
a  while,  and  notice  any  paralyses  or  other  disturb- 
ances, then  kill  it,  and  after  the  brain  has  been  hard- 
ened in  certain  fluids  cut  it  up  into  slices  and  follow 


ANATOMY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  SYSTEM        S7 

slice  by  slice  in  fibre  and  cell  the  track  of  the  neurone 
which  was  connected  with  the  part  destroyed,  for  it  is 
now  degenerated  and  therefore  distinguishable  from 
the  rest.  In  von  Gudden's  laboratory  we  could  even 
observe  with  the  ophthalmoscope  the  atrophy  of  a 
definite  part  of  the  fibres  of  the  optic  nerve  in  the  eye 
of  a  living  rabbit,  a  certain  part  of  whose  brain  con- 
nected with  the  sense  of  sight  had  been  removed  im- 
mediately after  birth. 

The  grey  substance  of  the  cerebrum  contains  the 
ganglion  cells  as  well  as  the  terminal  branches  of  the 
neurones.  Around  all  the  convolutions  and  fissures 
of  the  cerebrum  it  forms  a  ring  or  "  cortex  "  several 
millimetres  thick,  which  is  pre-eminently  the  seat  of 
our  mental  processes,  and  into  which  directly  or  in- 
directly the  neurones  of  all  other  parts  of  the  brain  as 
well  as  of  all  the  rest  of  the  body  send  nerve  fibres, 
i.e.,  bundles  of  the  finest  fibrils,  and  which  itself  sends 
out  branches  of  neurones.  Speaking  generally,  the 
long  neurones  of  the  cerebrum  can  be  divided,  after 
Meynert,  into  two  groups.  (1)  The  association  sys- 
tems through  which  a  ganglion  cell  of  the  cortex  sends 
its  nerve  fibres  to  one  or  more  groups  of  ganglion 
cells  in  other  distant  centres  of  the  cortex  on  the 
same  or  on  the  other  side.  (2)  The  projection  sys- 
tems, of  which  there  are  two  kinds:  (a)  the  centri- 
fugal, in  which  a  ganglion  cell  of  the  cortex  sends  its 
fibres  to  the  spinal  cord  or  other  subordinate  nerve 
centres;  (b)  the  centripetal,  in  which  a  ganglion  cell 
of  the  spinal  cord  or  of  a  lower  centre  sends  its  fibre 


58  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

to  the  cortex.  But  there  is  still  a  third  variety,  the 
short  or  local  neurones  (cells  of  Golgi  of  the  second 
category),  in  which  the  ganglion  cell  sends  the 
branches  of  its  principal  process  only  to  neighbouring 
cells.  From  these  facts  it  follows  that  there  is  no 
direct  connection  between  a  sense-organ  and  the 
cortex  or  between  the  cortex  and  a  muscle.  Within 
the  central  nervous  system,  moreover,  there  are  com- 
plete isolated  chains  of  successive  neurones  between 
the  cortex  and  the  peripheral  neurones.  Thus  there 
are  various  telegraph  stations  in  which  the  messages 
are  delivered,  combined,  and  then  at  last  sent  on 
farther.  The  longest  uninterrupted  neurones  are 
those  which  run  through  the  pyramidal  tract  from  the 
central  convolutions  of  the  cortex  to  the  anterior 
horns  of  the  spinal  cord,  and  those  which  lead  from 
the  anterior  horns  to  the  muscles.  These  two  systems 
ranked  one  above  the  other  transmit  the  combined 
stimuli  of  voluntary  impulses  to  the  muscles  and  thus 
produce  voluntary  movements. 

In  the  last  half  century  it  has  been  proved  both  by 
experiments  on  animals  and  by  the  observation  of 
patients  with  brain  diseases  that  the  stimuli  received 
by  each  sense  are  communicated  by  its  set  of  neurones 
to  a  definite  part  of  the  brain's  cortex,  and  that  vice 
versa  every  set  of  muscles  receives  its  motor  com- 
mands from  another  definite  part  of  the  cortex.  This 
is  called  the  localisation  of  functions  in  the  cerebral 
cortex.  As  we  see  from  Figs.  9  and  10,  each  half  or 
"  hemisphere  "  of  the  cerebrum,  consists  of  three  prin- 


ANATOMY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  SYSTEM 


59 


cipal  lobes,  the  Frontal,  Occipital,  and  Temporal  (or 
Temporo- Sphenoidal) .  The  middle  one  above  is 
called  the  Parietal.  The  fissure  of  Sylvius  separates 
the  frontal  and  temporal  lobes.  The  optic  nerve 
sends  its  stimuli  to  a  part  of  the  occipital  lobe;  the 


Parietal  lobe. 


Fio.  9.     Side  View  of  Left  Hemisphere  of  Human  Cerebrum 

R,  Fissure  of  Rolando,  or  central  fissure  ;  S,  Fissure  of  Sylvius;  V,  C,  W, 
Praecentral  (ascending  frontal)  convolution  ;  H,  C,  \V,  Postcentral  (ascending 
parietal)  convolution;  B,  Broca's  convolution  (in  the  frontal  lobe).  Injuries  here 
(on  the  left  side)  produce  aphasia  or  "motor"  aphasia,  i.  e.,  they  disturb  or  des- 
troy the  power  of  uttering  words;  A,  centre  in  the  temporal  convolution  for  "au- 
ditory speech."  Injuries  here  (on  the  left  side)  affect  the  power  of  understanding 
spoken  language.  A  also  shows  the  centre  for  hearing  (for  cerebral  hearing 
or  mind-hearing)  on  both  sides  of  the  cerebrum  ;  L,  centre  for  "visual  speech." 
Injuries  here  on  the  left  side  affect  the  power  of  reading  and  understanding 
written  words  ;  W,  W,  centre  for  voluntary  movements  and  tactile  sensations 
of  the  right  leg.  The  corresponding  centre  on  the  right  side  bears  the  same  rela- 
tion to  the  left  leg  ;  C,  C,  Same  for  arm  ;  V,  H,  Same  for  face.  The  speech 
centres,  B,  A,  L,  are  on  the  left  side  only,  but  with  left-handed  people  they  are 
on  the  right  side  only. 

auditory  nerve  sends  its  stimuli  to  a  part  of  the  tem- 
poral; and  so  with  the  rest.  Between  the  frontal  and 
the  occipital  lobes  in  the  parietal  region  of  the  cere- 
brum and  separated  from  each  other  by  the  central 
fissure  of  Rolando  are  found  the  '  anterior ':  and 
'  posterior ,:   central  convolutions,  which  with  some 


6o  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

neighbouring  portions  of  the  brain  send  out  the  orders 
for  the  movement  of  individual  groups  of  muscles. 
Legs,  arms,  tongue,  and  other  parts  subject  to  volun- 
tary control  all  have  their  definite  "  cortical  centres." 
Some  of  these  are  devoted  to  speech,  and  contain  the 
apparatus  for  the  understanding  or  pronunciation  or 
writing  of  words.  The  speech  area  B,  A,  L,  Fig.  9, 
governs  speech  in  general,  and,  indeed,  in  a  very  com- 

Temporal  lobe. 


Fig.  io.     Medial  Surface  of  the  Left  Hemisphere  of  the 
Cerebrum.     The  Right  Hemisphere  is  Cut  Away. 

R,  Fissure  of  Rolando  ;  S,  Fissure  of  Sylvius ;  C,  C,  C,  C,  Corpus  callosum, 
uniting  the  two  hemispheres  ;  W,  Centre  for  voluntary  movements  and  tactile 
sensations  of  the  leg  ;  O,  Cuneus,  the  convolution  whose  destruction  causes  blind- 
ness (mind-blindness,  or  cerebral-blindness)  on  one  side  of  both  eyes  ;  G,  Cortical 
centre  for  smell  (corresponds  to  what  O  is  for  sight  and  A  for  hearing). 

plicated  way,  for  the  destruction  of  the  train  of 
underlying  fibres  (in  the  interior  of  the  brain)  also 
injures  speech:  The  three  circumscribed  regions, 
B  (for  the  enunciation  of  words),  A  for  the 
understanding  of  spoken  words),  and  L  for  the 
understanding  of  written  words),  were  identified 
in    cases    of    sharply    defined    brain    diseases    which 


ANATOMY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  SYSTEM        61 

led  to  the  destruction  of  brain  substance  in  these 
places.  In  this  scheme,  only  those  regions  are  in- 
dicated whose  destruction  involves  the  disturbances 
in  question  most  clearly  and  regularly.  But  dis- 
turbances from  B  to  L  on  the  left  side,  or  under- 
neath, destroy  speech  in  general.  Yet  after  all,  we 
know  these  cerebral  localisations  only  in  gross  out- 
line, and  on  the  strength  of  what  we  know  we  should 
not  set  up  dogmas  whose  details  are  built  on  hypo- 
theses. Thus,  for  example,  it  is  obvious  that  there 
cannot  be  a  definite  writing  centre,  because  one  can 
write  with  any  part  of  the  body  that  is  easily  moved, 
even  with  the  foot. 

But  more:  We  possess  two  cerebral  hemispheres 
connected  with  each  other  by  the  association  neurones 
of  a  transverse  plate  of  fibres  (the  corpus  callosum) . 
Most  of  the  projection  fibres  of  the  right  cerebral 
hemisphere  cross  those  of  the  left  in  the  median  line 
of  subordinate  centres  and  form  connections  with  the 
organs  of  the  left  side  of  the  body.  On  this  account, 
when  I  work  with  my  right  hand  it  means  work  with 
the  left  cerebral  hemisphere  and  vice  versa.  Where 
both  hemispheres  are  not  accustomed  to  work  to- 
gether it  very  often  happens  that  in  the  course  of  our 
lives  one  of  them  gets  a  very  special  training ;  usually 
the  right  hand  [and  consequently  the  left  side  of  the 
brain]  gets  most  of  this,  and  the  obvious  result  is  the 
peculiar  fact  that  we  use  only  the  left  hemisphere 
in  speech.  Consequently  the  power  of  speech  or 
diction  is  destroyed  when  the  left,  but  not  when  the 


62  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

right,  inferior  frontal  convolution  (B)  is  destroyed. 
The  same  is  true  of  the  understanding  of  spoken 
language,  whose  centre  lies  in  the  upper  left  temporal 
convolution: — destruction  on  the  left  side  produces, 
but  that  on  the  right  does  not  produce,  "word- deaf- 
ness, where  the  patient  still  hears  the  sound  when 
somebody  speaks  but  does  not  understand  it  any  more 
than  if  he  were  listening  to  a  foreign  tongue.  In  the 
frontal  lobe  no  other  localisation  has  been  discovered ; 
but  it  seems  to  be  specially  active  in  the  work  of 
thinking,  i.e.,  in  the  combination  of  memory-images. 

Unfortunately  the  same  word  "  association ,:  is 
used  for  the  mental  processes  explained  in  psychology 
(the  connection  of  thoughts)  and  for  the  anatomical 
connecting  neurones  of  corresponding  parts  of  the 
brain.  But  they  are  entirely  different  things,  and  we 
certainly  have  no  right  to  conclude  from  the  sameness 
of  the  word  that  every  association  of  ideas  "  rides  on 
an  association  fibre  "  !  It  is  only  through  the  con- 
nection of  the  cerebral  cortex  with  the  senses  and  the 
muscles  that  we  know  anything  at  all  about  localisa- 
tion; and  when  it  comes  to  localising  the  connections 
between  thoughts,  the  subject  is  so  tangled  that  we 
can  only  make  statements  about  it  on  the  strength 
of  very  insecure  hypotheses. 

In  addition  to  the  tracts  of  projection  fibres  be- 
tween the  cerebral  hemispheres  and  the  spinal  cord 
there  are  a  series  of  subordinate  grey  brain  centres 
which  have  to  do  more  directly  with  sense-organs  and 
complicated  motor  adjustments,  i,  e.}  with  "  auto- 


ANATOMY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  SYSTEM 


63 


matic  ,v  acts,  and  much  less  with  the  higher  mental 
elaboration  of  impressions,  and  which  are  stronger  or 
weaker  in  various  kinds  of  animals  according  to  the 
development  of  the  functions  in  question,  but  many 
times  stronger  than  in  men.  Such  are  the  cerebellum, 
the  pons,  the  corpora  quadrigemina,  the  optic  thalami, 
the  striate  bodies,  the  olfactory  lobes,  etc.  The  olfac- 
tory lobe  is  connected  with  the  organ  of  smell;  a  part 
of  the  optic  thalamus  and  of  the  corpora  quadri- 
gemina (but  especially  the  external  corpus  genicu- 
latum)  with  the  eye.  The  striate  body  and  the 
cerebellum  appear  rather  to  be  connected  with  pheno- 
mena of  movement;  yet  their  function  is  still  ex- 
tremely obscure.  When  the  cerebellum  is  carefully 
removed  one  sees  scarcely  any  disturbances. 

To  show  how  tremendously  the  cerebrum  outweighs 
all  the  rest  in  the  case  of  human  beings,  I  give  the 
following  figures  derived  from  the  brains  of  ten  men 
and  ten  women: 


Cerebrum 

Other  brain  centres 

Total 

Men 
Women 

1060  grams 

2.34  lbs. 

955  grams 
2.10  lbs. 

290  grams 
.64  lbs. 

270  grams 
.60  lbs. 

1350  grams 

2.98  lbs. 

1225  grams 
2.70  lbs. 

With  these  brains  of  moderately  normal  people, 
which  I  weighed  myself ,  the  spinal  cord,  whose  weight 
is  very  trifling,  was  not  included.  On  the  other  hand, 
the  "  other  centres  "  included  the  projection  fibres  of 


64  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

the  cerebrum  which  run  through  the  middle  of  them. 
The  striate  bodies  come  very  close  to  the  cerebral  cor- 
tex in  their  significance.  We  see  that  a  woman's  cere- 
brum is  absolutely  smaller  than  a  man's  by  about  100 
grams,  and  also  rather  smaller  than  larger  even  in 
comparison  with  the  other  centres.  According  to 
the  larger  number  of  statistics  adduced  by  Mercier, 
the  normal  average  weight  of  a  man's  brain  is  1353 
grams  [2.98  lbs.],  of  a  woman's  1200  [2.64];  so 
that  the  average  difference  is  still  greater. 

We  must  be  content  with  this  short  and  incomplete 
sketch  of  the  human  nervous  system.  But  we  see 
from  it  that  the  organs  of  mind  are  constructed  from 
the  same  tissue  as  the  organs  of  all  our  other  nervous 
functions  and  the  organs  of  movement  except  the 
muscles  themselves,  whose  elasticity  like  that  of  in- 
dia-rubber makes  them  a  good  instrument  for  the 
nerves  to  work  with.  Nay  more!  We  see  from 
language,  movement,  and  sensation  that  the  action  of 
two  or  more  groups  of  neurones  is  similar  enough  to 
carry  over  the  most  subordinate  stimulation  of  any 
part  of  the  body  into  consciousness  (in  the  cerebrum) 
or,  vice  versa,  to  carry  a  "  movement "  within  con- 
sciousness into  some  sort  of  muscular  action. 

It  is  evident  that  all  these  transferences  and 
strengthenings  (or  "reinforcements")  and  arrests 
(or  "inhibitions")  of  stimuli  correspond  to  an  in- 
tense molecular  activity  of  the  nerve  substance,  which 
expends  its  force  and  exhausts  its  material;  and  this 
makes  it  necessary  to  replace  both  matter  and  energy. 


ANATOMY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  SYSTEM        65 

This  indispensable  energy  is  now  brought  to  the  brain 
or  other  centres  through  an  extremely  rich  network 
of  blood  and  lymph  vessels,  richest  of  all  in  the  grey 
matter. 

The  brain  and  spinal  cord  are  well  protected  and 
concealed  in  their  hard  casings  of  skull  and  vertebra? ; 
but  when  these  are  broken  or  injured  the  conse- 
quences to  human  minds  and  brains  are  most  serious ; 
for  the  central  nervous  system  is  as  delicate  as  it  is 
powerful  and  cannot  stand  a  severe  injury  to  the 
bony  envelope  that  protects  it  without  grave  disturb- 
ances of  its  functions. 


CHAPTER  III 

THE  RELATION  OF  THE  MIND  TO  THE  BRAIN 

IN  the  first  two  chapters  we  gained  some  knowledge 
of  mental  phenomena  and  of  the  structure  of 
the  nervous  system,  and  in  this  connection  we  saw  that 
the  brain  is  the  true  centre  of  mental  action  as  well 
as  of  nervous  action  in  general.  One  fact  here  is 
very  peculiar:  although  all  our  conscious  feelings  are 
in  the  cerebrum,  injuries  to  the  cerebrum  itself  are 
not  painful;  indeed  they  are  not  felt  at  all.  Thus 
sensation  and  pain,  so  far  as  we  are  conscious  of  them, 
always  correspond  to  processes  in  the  cerebrum  which 
are  caused  either  (a)  by  stimuli  present  somewhere 
below  the  cerebrum,  or  (b)  by  other  processes  in  the 
cerebrum  itself  in  response  to  stimuli  from  nervous 
mechanisms  further  down.  In  other  words,  sensa- 
tion and  pain  as  well  as  perception  correspond  to 
definite  stimulations  of  the  cerebrum ;  but  these  stimu- 
lations can  only  be  produced  in  two  ways:  first, 
through  the  transmission  to  the  cerebrum  of  some  par- 
ticular set  of  stimulations  from  bodily  nerves  or  from 
subordinate  centres  in  the  spinal  cord  or  the  ganglia, 
or  second,  through  an  excitation  of  a  memory-image 
by  any  associated  activity  within  the  cerebrum  itself. 
The  second  case  is  rather  abnormal,  however  often 

66 


RELATION  OF  MIND  AND  BRAIN  67 

it  may  occur.  For  the  end  of  sensation,  pain,  or  per- 
ception is  to  direct  our  attention  to  what  is  going  on 
in  the  outer  world.  Accordingly  the  brain  is  accus- 
tomed not  to  locate  these  in  itself,  but  in  the  place 
outside  where  they  are  ordinarily  caused.  We  locate 
the  fountain  that  we  see,  on  the  street;  the  voice  that 
we  hear,  in  the  person  speaking;  the  burning  pain  from 
our  finger,  in  the  finger ;  although  in  reality  it  is  only 
the  causes  of  these  processes  which  are  outside,  and 
they  themselves  take  place  in  the  brain.  Then  when 
similar  processes  arise  through  an  inner  stimulation 
of  the  brain  we  have  an  hallucination  of  a  fountain  or 
hear  a  voice  or  feel  a  pain  in  the  finger  when  nothing 
of  the  sort  is  present  at  the  place  in  question;  no,  not 
even  in  the  finger.  We  are  simply  deceived  (as  in 
the  case  already  referred  to  of  the  man  with  a  pain  in 
his  amputated  foot)  and  "  project  "  outward  what  is 
taking  place  in  the  brain  without  an  outward  cause. 
Innumerable  pains  of  so-called  neurasthenics  (hypo- 
chondriacs) arise  in  this  way.  It  can  be  accepted  as 
highly  probable  that  in  all  these  cases  the  same  neu- 
rones are  affected  which  normally  carry  the  stimula- 
tions from  without  to  the  cerebral  cortex;  hence  the 
deception. 

It  is  peculiar  what  intense  pain  all  animals  express 
when  their  "  sensory  "  or  afferent  nerves  are  torn,  not 
only  at  any  point  along  their  course  but  also  at  their 
point  of  origin  in  the  ganglia  (for  example,  in  the 
ganglion  of  the  optic  nerve,  the  Gasserian)  and 
higher  up  in  certain  parts  of  the  spinal  cord  and  the 


68  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

medulla  oblongata  (at  the  base  of  the  brain) .  When 
we  consider  the  leading  part  played  by  these  latter 
organs  in  the  case  of  those  lower  vertebrates  which 
can  express  pain  vigorously  and  yet  possess  only  a 
very  scanty  cerebrum  it  seems  extremely  probable 
that  these  subordinate  centres  were  originally  capable 
of  feeling  for  themselves — and  especially  of  feeling 
pain  (see  Chapter  IV.  on  Goltz's  dog  without  a 
cerebrum) .  And  so  it  seems  to  me  that  the  insensi- 
bility of  the  cerebrum  to  the  tearing  of  its  own  sub- 
stance can  be  explained  in  this  way:  The  cerebrum 
was  developed  in  the  higher  animals  after  the  rest  of 
the  nervous  system,  and  as  a  result  of  its  protected 
position  it  has  only  had  to  feel  in  a  secondary  way 
from  the  very  beginning,  i.  e.,  has  only  had  to  work 
up  the  stimulations  and  neurokyms  of  pain  and  other 
feeling  complexes  transmitted  to  it  from  lower  cen- 
tral nervous  mechanisms.  Perhaps  this  will  be  un- 
stood  better  later. 

But  what  is  the  real  relation  between  our  inner 
mental  processes  and  a  stimulated  condition  of  our 
brain? 

Here  we  must  express  ourselves  plainly  if  we  are 
to  be  understood.  Almost  all  the  mental  processes 
mentioned  in  the  first  chapter  are,  as  they  say,  "  sub- 
jective," or  perceptible  by  every  individual  in  his  own 
self,  or  ego.  These  processes  form  the  subject-mat- 
ter of  psychology,  the  science  of  mind.  By  the  very 
word  "  conscious  "  we  mean  that  something  or  other 
— some  sensation  or  idea — forms  a  part  of  our  mental 


RELATION  OF  MIND  AND  BRAIN  69 

content.  According  to  that,  from  the  standpoint  of 
pure  introspective  psychology,  what  is  not  conscious 
or  at  least  was  not  once  conscious  should  not  count  as 
a  mental  condition  or  process.  As  the  contents  of 
consciousness  we  may  designate  all  present  or  past 
mental  processes  in  the  sense  just  explained.  We 
have  no  direct  knowledge  of  anything  at  all  but  men- 
tal processes  or  contents  of  consciousness. 

But,  as  we  have  seen,  this  direct  method  has  a  way 
of  often  deceiving  us.  We  have  seen  already  in  the 
first  chapter  how  what  is  brought  to  consciousness  by 
one  sense  is  corrected  through  judgments  based  on 
the  other  senses  and  on  movement,  is  fixed  by 
memory,  improved  by  continuous  parallels  in  life  and 
always  shaped  more  correctly.  And  so,  because  ex- 
periences from  the  outer  world  are  continually  en- 
riching our  consciousness  and  are  made  to  fit  reality 
better  and  better,  we  indirectly  gain  a  more  exact 
knowledge  of  that  outer  world.  We  compare  the 
symbols — the  sensations  and  perceptions — of  one 
sense  with  those  of  another,  and  through  this  com- 
parison errors  correct  themselves.  In  this  way  we 
gain  a  higher  kind  of  knowledge,  the  beginnings  of 
science.  Such  knowledge  we  call  "  objective,"  not 
because  it  is  an  external  reality  in  itself,  but  because 
it  represents  the  adjustment  between  different  sen- 
sory impressions  made  by  the  outer  world  upon  our 
brain.  The  impressions  of  the  outer  world  arrange 
and  correct  each  other  in  our  brain  of  their  own  ac- 
cord so  as  to  correspond  with  their  proper  order. 


7o  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NER  VES 

Through  such  indirect  processes  we  gain  perceptions 
of  the  regular  occurrences  in  the  outer  world,  provided 
that  our  brain  works  normally,  i.  e.,  is  properly  fitted 
to  its  task.  When  such  regular  occurrences  appear 
to  be  sufficiently  assured  by  means  of  inductive  in- 
ference 1  we  speak  of  laws  of  nature. 

The  formulation  of  the  "  natural  laws  "  of  science 
is  thus  a  result  of  the  regular  action  of  the  external 
world  upon  our  brain.  But  the  brain  itself  can  be 
regarded  from  two  sides.  It  is  the  organ  of  the 
mind,  the  subject,  the  ego.  But  at  the  same  time  it 
is  a  part  of  the  external  world  which  we  can  know 
indirectly  from  without,  at  least  in  the  case  of  our 
neighbours.  We  may  briefly  designate  the  mental 
or  inner  side  of  our  brain  life  as  Consciousness,  and 
the  side  which  is  observed  by  others  from  without  as 
Neurokym  or  nerve  waves.  And  now  we  must  make 
sure  of  two  facts: 

1.  Each  individual  knows  onlv  his  own  conscious- 
ness,  but  he  concludes  from  the  communications  which 
are  made  to  him  by  means  of  the  coins  of  thought  of 
which  we  have  already  spoken,  i.  e.,  by  means  of  lan- 
guage in  the  broadest  sense,  that  his  fellow  men  and 
the  higher  animals  have  consciousness  too. 

2.  The  direct  translation  of  what  is  contained  in 
consciousness  into  neurokym  or  vice  versa  is  some- 
thing impossible,  or  rather,  transcendent,  i.  e.,  beyond 
human  powers  of  knowledge. 

And  yet  it  is  absolutely  established  on  the  ground 

1  See  Chapter  I,  above. 


RELATION  OF  MIND  AND  BRAIN  71 

of  experience  that  if  we  understand  by  mind  some- 
thing that  corresponds  to  our  human  consciousness, 
there  is  no  mind  x  without  the  living  complexes  of 
neurokym,  i.  £.,  without  the  brain.  It  is  quite  as  well 
established  that  for  every  inner  process  of  the  mind 
there  is  a  corresponding  nervous  process  in  the  neu- 
rones of  the  brain.  On  this  all  serious  psychologists 
and  physiologists  now  agree. 

But  apparently  this  is  not  true  of  the  converse. 
There  are  very  many  activities  of  our  brain  and 
nerves  of  which  we  are  not  conscious,  and  which  we 
indicate  accordingly  by  such  expressions  as  "  uncon- 
scious," "  automatic,"  "  reflex,"  "  mechanical,"  and 
"  instinctive."  To  understand  this  we  must  discuss 
something  different. 

If  any  one  pays  attention  to  his  dreams  he  soon 
notices  that  if  he  fixes  his  mind  upon  them  at  the 
moment  when  he  awakes  and  goes  once  more  as  well 
as  he  can  through  the  dream-chain  which  he  has  just 
ended,  he  gradually  succeeds  in  calling  back  more  and 
more  of  the  images  and  in  fixing  them  in  memory, 
however  dissociated,  or  incoherent,  they  may  be.  If, 
on  the  contrary,  he  does  not  attend  to  his  dreams  he 
comes  to  forget  them  altogether,  especially  if  his 
sleep  is  short  and  deep;  so  that  he  imagines  he  does 
not  dream  at  all.  Thus  it  is  established  that  certain 
chains  of  mental  processes  give  us  the  impression  of 
unconsciousness  though  we  can  prove  indirectly  that 

1  [Certainly  no  mind  that  we  can  know  anything  about  in  this  earthly 
life.— Tr.] 


72  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

they  are  conscious;   for  the  dream-consciousness  is 
also  a  consciousness,  or  something  known  by  intro- 
spection.    In    so-called    somnambulism,    or    sleep- 
walking, we  can  even  accomplish  quite  complicated 
performances    and    have    very    orderly    chains    of 
thought,   which  we   erroneously   describe   as  uncon- 
scious because  we  do  not  know  anything  about  them. 
Hypnotism,  into  which  we  cannot  enter  here,  gives 
us  very  definite  proof  that  perfectly  similar  mental 
phenomena  may  occur  either  consciously  or,  at  least 
apparently,  unconsciously.     Nay,  more:  I  have  suc- 
ceeded experimentally  in  influencing  the  perceptive 
centres  of  hypnotised  persons,  so  that  certain  stimu- 
lations,   such    as    sounds,    pricks,    etc.,    were    not 
perceived  at  the  moment  of  their  occurrence;  the  "  sub- 
ject ':    did  not  perceive  them   at  all.     Nevertheless 
these  impressions  were  registered  in  the  brain,  for 
afterwards  by  a  suitable  suggestion,  which  however 
contained  nothing  as  to  the  character  of  the  phe- 
nomena in  question,  I  succeeded  in  making  these  pro- 
ceedings enter  into  consciousness,  so  that  the  subject 
described  them  exactly  and  thus  remembered  some- 
thing of  which  he  was  not  conscious  at  the  moment  of 
its  occurrence.     He  became  suddenly  conscious  of  a 
past  of  which  he  had  remained  till  then  unconscious. 
Oscar  Vogt  has  confirmed  this. 

All  these  facts  show  unambiguously  that  "  uncon- 
scious     perception,"       '  conscious      performances," 
'  forgetting,"  and  in  general  a  whole  series  of  allied 
phenomena  can  be  briefly  designated  as  cases  of  men- 


RELATION  OF  MIND  AND  BRAIN  73 

tal  dissociation,  i.  e.,  as  processes  in  which  the  con- 
scious connection  of  mental  conditions  is  split  or 
broken  off,  with  the  result  that  for  the  time  being 
the  extent  of  what  we  have  in  consciousness  is  very 
limited.  And  even  if  memories  enable  us  to  call  back 
quite  a  large  part  of  past  conscious  possessions,  this 
power  is  still  very  limited. 

From  such  considerations  we  can  draw  the  very 
important  conclusion  that  a  large  number  of  mental 
processes  are  erroneously  designated  as  "  uncon- 
scious," for  they  were  conscious  nevertheless,  and 
may  be  conscious  even  now  in  a  separate  part  of  our 
brain  life,  while  our  attention  is  directed  to  other 
things.  Amnesia,  or  forgetting,  rests  on  dissociative 
processes  and  often  simulates  unconsciousness.  A 
child  learning  to  read  is  conscious  of  every  stroke 
of  the  letters ;  but  we  adults  are  not  even  conscious  of 
the  whole  word  which  we  glance  at  in  reading.  On 
the  other  hand,  we  assume  that  even  a  fish  running 
away  at  our  approach  is  conscious  of  the  approach 
of  an  enemy;  and  yet  a  fish's  brain  is  more  simply 
organised  than  our  most  subordinate  brain  centres 
(such  as  spinal  cord,  or  cerebellum),  the  activity  of 
which  is  always  unconscious  to  us.  How  can  we 
reconcile  all  these  contradictions? 

I  believe  that  a  very  simple  supposition,  which  we 
have  a  right  to  make  so  long  as  it  cannot  be  shown  to 
be  false,  helps  us  easily  out  of  all  our  difficulties.  Let 
us  suppose  that  all  nervous  action,  i.  e.,  that  every 
neurokym,  possesses  an  inner  or  introspective  side, 


74  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

however  slight  and  elementary.  This  inner  side  is 
nothing  in  itself;  it  is  only  the  inner  reflection  of  the 
molecular  nerve  waves.  This  inner  reflection  or 
consciousness  (or,  if  you  like,  this  fragment  of  con- 
sciousness) follows  the  psychological  laws  mentioned 
in  Chapter  I.  Now  if  we  use  the  term  cc  Swpercon- 
sciousness  "  to  designate  what  we  ordinarily  mean  by 
consciousness,  i.  e.,  the  very  important  syntheses  or 
connected  series  of  recallable  conscious  states  that  we 
have  when  we  are  awake  and  our  attention  is 
concentrated,  then  the  content  of  this  superconscious- 
ness  forms  the  main  part  of  our  mind,  or  ego, 
or  inner  life,  and  therefore  the  main  content  of  psy- 
chology. We  can  then  use  the  term  "  Subconscious- 
ness **  to  designate  those  states  of  which  we  were  once 
feebly  conscious,  but  whose  connection  with  our  super- 
consciousness  was  either  always  very  incomplete  or 
immediately  broken  off  again,  as  well  as  the  pre- 
sumable continuation  of  such  phenomena  in  the 
activities  of  our  brain,  which  we  usually  regard  as 
unconscious.  The  more  or  less  inadequate  glances 
which  we  have  already  taken  into  this  subconscious  life 
of  our  mind  lead  us  to  believe  unhesitatingly  in  its 
presence;  and  as  a  type  of  such  subconsciousness 
with  dissociated  content  we  can  adduce  the  conscious- 
ness that  one  has  in  dreams  and  in  somnambulism. 
But  if  our  view  is  correct  we  must  undoubtedly  go 
further  and  suppose  that  there  is  a  subconsciousness 
lying  still  deeper  which  is  never  associated  with  our 
superconsciousness  and  which  is  the  inner  comple- 


RELATION  OP  MIND  AND  BRAIN  7$ 

ment  of  activities  of  subordinate  nerve  centres,  gang- 
lia, etc.  What  it  is  like  inwardly,  of  course  we  do 
not  know,  any  more  than  we  know  the  thoughts  and 
feelings  of  a  lower  animal.  I  shall  try  to  make  the 
matter  clearer  by  a  comparison. 

Let  us  imagine  an  immensely  complicated  ma- 
chine, and  imagine  further  that  all  energy  and  move- 
ment, and  therefore  all  the  energy  and  movement  of 
this  machine,  has  the  property  of  feeling  itself.  It  is 
clear  that  the  feeling  of  the  machine  will  bear  some 
relation  to  the  complexity  of  its  activities,  and  that 
therefore  the  feeling  of  the  machine  as  a  whole  will 
be  much  more  complex  than  that  of  a  single  atom 
of  matter  moving  along  in  a  straight  line.  Let  us 
imagine  further  that  wave  movements  of  electricity, 
sound,  or  warmth,  which  take  place  in  the  machine, 
involve  corresponding  compound  feelings,  and  that 
these  vary  in  quality  according  to  the  rapidity  or 
slowness,  length  or  shortness,  and  other  relations  of 
the  movements;  that  is,  that  where  a  definite  rhythm 
of  the  waves,  say  a  very  short  one,  is  present,  there  is 
a  single  feeling  for  the  whole  group  of  waves  in- 
volved; but  just  because  they  are  all  acting  together 
in  this  particular  way  the  feeling  has  a  different  qual- 
ity from  that  which  corresponds  to  a  single  wave  or 
even  to  a  set  of  waves  with  a  slower  rhythm.  In  this 
way  qualities  of  feeling  arise  which  an  atom  moving 
along  by  itself  cannot  possess.  But  does  this  give  us 
the  right  to  deny  a  feeling  of  its  own  to  the  single 
atom?     Certainly  just  as  little  as  the  greater  sim- 


76  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

plicity  of  its  movements  gives  us  the  right  to  deny  it 
movement  and  energy. 

In  some  such  way  as  this  I  represent  to  myself  the 
distinction  between  our  own  consciousness  and  that 
of  a  neurone  or  cell  or  atom.  In  this  way  I  get  out 
of  the  clutches  of  the  mystical  dualism  between  mind 
and  body.  In  this  way  too  we  can  explain  the  ap- 
parent contradictions,  to  which  we  have  referred,  in 
the  phenomena  of  human  consciousness.  Just  be- 
cause there  is  a  synthesis  of  the  machine's  feelings  this 
united  higher  feeling  of  the  larger  complex  move- 
ments loses  direct  subjective  connection  with  the  feel- 
ings that  belong  to  the  movements  of  the  individual 
molecules.  The  latter  must  thus  appear  to  the  higher 
or  more  developed  synthesis  as  "  unconscious,"  yet 
they  are  really  conscious  for  themselves,  i.  e., 
subconscious. 

Consciousness  is  thus  in  itself  something  quite  dif- 
ferent from  the  complications,  the  intensity,  the  plas- 
ticitv,  or  the  automatism  of  a  movement;  and  vet 
these  latter  properties  are  reflected  in  it. 

On  the  conscious  or  subjective  side,  although  the 
movements  [of  the  machine  or  its  parts]  are  really 
united  and  therefore  simplified  by  synthesis,  yet  on 
the  whole  they  are  known  introspectively  as  they  are 
— the  simple  as  more  simple  and  the  complex  as  more 
complex.  The  formation  of  qualities  which  arise 
through  synthesis  is  obviously  a  peculiarity  of  the 
subjective  side  of  energy  which  is  not  capable  of 
further  analysis.     Thus,  for  example,  certain  shorter 


RELATION  OF  MIND  AND  BRAIN  77 

light  waves  appear  to  us  as  violet  and  longer  ones 
as  red. 

Is  this  conception  of  ours  a  useless  speculation? 
Does  it  mean  anything  to  ascribe  to  every  nervous  ac- 
tivity an  introspective  side,  or  if  you  like,  a  fragmen- 
tary psychology?     Let  us  see. 

In  Chapter  I.  we  mentioned  the  law  of  the  conser- 
vation of  energy.  This  law,  as  you  know,  forms  the 
foundation  of  natural  science.  If  we  trace  the  ac- 
tions and  reactions  of  the  neurokym  in  the  central 
nervous  system,  we  find  there  nothing  but  a  chain  of 
movements  completely  subservient  to  the  law  of  con- 
servation. But  if  we  observe  our  mental  states  from 
within,  simply  for  themselves,  they  appear  not  to 
obey  the  law.  In  the  mind  great  activities  arise  ap- 
parently from  nothing  and  vanish  again  into  noth- 
ing ;  at  least  we  certainly  cannot  discover  the  cause  of 
all  conscious  states  in  other  conscious  states.  And  it 
was  from  this  very  fact  that  people  formerly  inferred 
the  presence  of  a  soul  independent  of  matter  and  of 
the  law  of  conservation.  But  the  whole  puzzle  and 
all  the  contradictions  are  explained  with  perfect  sat- 
isfaction if  we  suppose,  what  the  phenomena  already 
mentioned  so  readily  suggest,  that  the  causes  of  our 
superconscious  cerebral  life  are  to  be  sought  to  a 
great  extent  in  past  or  present  dissociated,  or  gener- 
ally subconscious,  activities  of  the  brain,  and  that  in 
general  all  inner  life,  all  consciousness  in  itself,  is 
nothing  but  the  inner  side  of  the  neurokym. 

This  has  already  been  pointed  out  by  the  older 


78  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

philosophers,  such  as  Spinoza,  and  especially,  in  more 
recent  times,  by  Fechner;  and  the  conception  which 
explains  it  all  may  be  called  the  hypothesis  or  law 
of  identity.1  It  simply  says  that  what  appears  to 
us  psychologically  as  mind  and  physiologically  as 
neurokym  is  one  and  the  same  thing.  Fechner  has 
expressed  himself  directly  to  this  intent: 

The  physiology  of  the  nervous  system  (the  science  of  the 
neurokym)  and  psychology  (or  the  knowledge  of  mind) 
deal  with  the  same  material  seen  from  two  different  sides,  and 
there  can  be  no  more  strife  between  them  than  between  the 
observer  of  the  convex  and  the  observer  of  the  concave  side 
of  a  curve.  Every  phenomenon  of  consciousness  gives  occa- 
sion for  a  double  investigation.  Now  the  psychological  and 
now  the  physiological  side  of  the  phenomenon  is  most  easily 
approached ;  but  this  does  not  destroy  the  fundamental 
relation  of  the  two  sides  to  each  other.2 

We  call  the  reality  of  things  "  objective "  or 
observed  from  without;  but  it  is  really,  though  indi- 
rectly, subjective.  It  rests  on  inferences  from  anal- 
ogy, but  often  on  very  certain  inferences  which  we 
gain  by  the  comparison  of  sense-impressions  and  the 
correction  of  one  by  another  which  we  make  as  a  re- 
sult of  our  experience  in  life.  A  simple  example  and 
a  little  reflection  will  make  the  matter  clear. 

When  I  say  that  I  see  and  feel  an  apple  in  front  of 
me  I  am  not  deceived,  for  I  have  proved  hundreds  of 
times  that  when  I  see  an  apple  I  can  also  feel  it  and 

»  [To  be  distinguished,  of  course,  from  the  logical  law  with  the  same 
name. — Tr.] 

2  After  Höffding. 


RELATION  OF  MIND  AND  BRAIN  79 

that  when  I  eat  it  I  know  it  by  taste  into  the  bargain. 
The  pathological  case  of  hallucination  or  false  per- 
ception only  confirms  this  rule;  for  the  reality  of  the 
object  is  denied  by  other  people  who  confirm  my  other 
perceptions.  Of  the  assumed  real  "  being  "  of  the 
apple  I  know,  to  be  sure,  only  the  impressions  of 
touch,  taste,  sight,  and  smell  which  it  makes  upon 
me — only  symbols.  But  because  of  the  stability  of 
their  mutual  relations,  these  are  fully  sufficient  to 
make  me  certain  that  there  is  a  real  thing  correspond- 
ing to  them  in  the  external  world,  which  I  call  an 
apple.  All  the  expedients  of  science  such  as  meas- 
ure-, weight,  number,  are  only  conventional  abstrac- 
tions which  men  work  out  from  the  comparison  of 
real  things  known  in  this  way.  Nevertheless  I  can 
never  transform  sensations  of  sight  into  those  of 
taste  or  touch.  In  this  way,  these  sensations  are 
dualistic  or  even,  in  a  qualitative  sense,  pluralistic, 
because  I  cannot  subjectively  transform  the  specific 
energy  or  quality  of  one  sense  into  that  of  another. 
Yet  I  am  justified  in  ascribing  a  definite  combination 
of  sense-impressions,  "  the  perception  of  the  apple," 
to  a  real  thing — to  the  apple  which  I  rightfully 
'  project ':  into  the  external  world.  But  the  seen, 
the  felt,  and  the  tasted  apple  are  the  same  thing; 
my  experience  vouches  for  that  on  the  ground  of  in- 
numerable inferences  from  analogy. 

If  now  I  place  an  apple  beside  a  pear  I  have  before 
me  two  different  things.  And  if  I  eat  the  apple,  it 
lies  in  fragments  in  my  stomach  and  no  longer  in 


8o  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

front  of  me,  though  the  pear  may.  But  I  can  not 
eat  the  visual  image  of  the  apple  or  leave  its  tactual 
image  in  front  of  me.  Yet  that  image  is  as  clear  as 
day,  and  at  the  same  time  the  best  proof  of  the  pres- 
ence of  the  real  thing  outside  of  me.  For  this  reason 
I  call  the  seen  apple  identical  and  not  parallel  with 
the  one  that  is  felt  and  tasted. 

The  same  is  true  of  mind  and  brain.  It  is  as  im- 
possible to  imagine  a  living  brain  without  a  mind  as 
a  mind  without  a  brain.  What  destroys  the  brain 
destroys  the  mind,  and  what  disturbs  the  brain  dis- 
turbs the  mind  correspondingly.  The  two  are  as  in- 
separable as  the  apple  seen  and  the  apple  felt»  or 
tasted,  and  correspond  in  the  same  way  to  the  same 
real  thing.  And  that  is  why  we  speak  of  identity 
and  not,  like  certain  modern  psychologists,  of  par- 
allelism; for  a  thing  cannot  be  parallel  with  itself. 
Again  the  visual  image  and  the  tactual  image  of  the 
apple,  as  mere  images,  are  certainly  not  parallel ;  and 
no  more  are  the  ideas  which  we  find  within  us  and  the 
groups  of  physiological  neurokym  that  go  with  them. 
In  these  questions  we  often  only  quarrel  about  words 
because  we  have  a  way  of  confusing  theoretical  ab- 
stractions with  real  things. 

Thus  we  see  clearly  how  we  must  apprehend  the 
relation  of  the  mind  to  the  brain.  Both  are  really 
one.  But  we  have  two  ways  of  investigating  this 
brain-mind:  psychology  or  inner  experience,  and 
physiology  or  observation  from  without  in  connec- 
tion with  appropriate  experiments.     Neither  of  the 


RELATION  OF  MIND  AND  BRAIN  81 

two  should  be  neglected.  By  physiological  psychol- 
ogy we  understand  the  study  of  the  relation  of  the 
outer  phenomena  to  the  inner  and  of  the  inner  to  the 
outer.  The  investigations  of  the  last  decade,  con- 
tinually more  fundamental  and  profound,  show  more 
and  more  that  all  mental  phenomena  are  only  the 
inner  side  of  brain  activities.  Thus  they  confirm  the 
identity  hypothesis,  and  allow  us  gradually  to  pene- 
trate deeper  into  the  laws  of  the  mental  processes. 
But,  on  the  ground  of  what  has  been  set  forth  above, 
we  can  say  quite  as  well  that  all  brain  activities  are 
only  the  outer  side  of  mental  processes.  That 
amounts  to  exactly  the  same  thing.1 

From  the  standpoint  of  psychology,  or  the  study 
of  the  mind,  we  must  state  that  dualism,  which  sup- 
poses a  mind  independent  of  or  separable  from  the 
body,  necessarily  leads  us  to  insoluble  contradictions 
and  this  for  the  following  reasons: 

A  mind  conceived  of  dualistically  must  be  thought 
of  either  as  dependent  upon,  or  independent  of,  the 
law  of  the  conservation  of  energy.  If  it  is  thought  of 
as  containing  energy  [i.e.,  as  subject  to  the  law], 
dualism  is  only  playing  with  words,  for  a  mind  obedi- 
ent to  this  law  and  yet  "  independent  of  the  body  ,: 

»  The  identity  hypothesis  or  scientific  monism  leads  easily  to  a  monistic 
conception  of  the  world,  according  to  which  God  and  the  world  are  re- 
garded as  one  and  the  same  unknown  Omnipotent,  because  the  idea  of 
God  existing  apart  from  Nature  assumes  that  God  and  man  are  alike, 
and  that  man's  mind  is  independent  of  natural  laws.  It  is  not  our  busi- 
ness here  to  meddle  with  metaphysics,  world-views,  and  religion,  and 
we  must  say  at  once  that  such  questions  are  quite  beyond  the  sphere  of 
human  knowledge. 


82  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

can  only  be  a  portion  of  the  brain's  activity  which  we 
involuntarily  tear  from  its  connections  and  to  which 
we  lend  "  mental  being  '  only  to  demand  it  back 
again  immediately.  Energy  can  be  transformed 
only  qualitatively,  not  quantitatively.  In  order  to 
be  able  to  obey  the  law  of  the  conservation  of  energy 
a  dualistically  conceived  mind  would  therefore  have 
had  to  be  able  to  pass  over  completely  into  another 
form  of  energy;  but  then  this  mind  would  be  no 
longer  dualistic,  i.  e.,  no  longer  different  from  the 
brain  activities  or  from  the  energy  in  general  of 
which,  as  we  saw,  we  can  very  well  regard  conscious- 
ness as  an  immanent  property.  But  if  the  mind  is 
thought  of  as  without  energy,  i.  e.9  as  independent  of 
the  law  of  the  conservation  of  energy,  then  we  come 
immediately  to  a  belief  in  miracles  that  abrogates 
natural  laws  and  allows  them  to  be  disturbed  at 
pleasure;  and  energy  would  have  to  arise  from  noth- 
ing and  return  to  nothing  every  moment,  through 
the  intervention  of  miracles,  spirit  rappers,  and  ma- 
terialised ghosts ;  for  the  action  of  the  mind  on  matter 
and  vice  versa  could  certainly  not  be  disputed.  Thus 
we  should  have  a  constant  falsification  of  the  law  of 
conservation,  and  it  would  then  be  wrong.  But  ex- 
perience teaches  that  it  is  right  and  that  the  mystical 
appearances  which  are  again  and  again  brought  up 
against  it  will  not  stand  the  test  of  exact  examina- 
tion, but  vanish  as  fog  and  illusion,  often  also  as 
fraud.  For  us,  of  course,  the  "  mind  "  does  not  act 
on   the    "  body,"    but   the   cerebrum   acts    on    other 


RELATION  OF  MIND  AND  BRAIN  83 

nervous  mechanisms  and  other  parts  of  the  body, 
and  vice  versa.1 

1  [Doubtless  a  good  many  readers  will  find  it  difficult  to  admit  the  force 
of  all  that  is  said  in  the  last  part  of  this  paragraph.  One  need  not  nec- 
essarily be  a  monist  in  order  to  disbelieve  in  spirit-rapping  and  material- 
ised ghosts.  But  whatever  one  may  think  about  the  argument  or  about 
any  part  of  it,  it  is  very  easy  to  see  the  immense  value  of  the  monistic 
standpoint  in  the  discussion  of  mental  hygiene. — Tr.] 


CHAPTER  IV 

PHYSIOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  SYSTEM 

DHYSIOLOGY  is  an  account  of  the  functions 
*  or  life  of  the  organs  of  a  living  being.  For- 
merly the  structure  of  the  brain  was  only  known  very 
badly  and  consequently  most  attention  was  given  to 
the  physiology  of  the  peripheral  nerves,  which  how- 
ever reveal  only  very  elementary  processes  of  the 
nervous  life.  We  shall  try  to  present  the  most  im- 
portant physiological  conceptions. 

1.  The  Muscle.  The  fibrous  muscle  cells  consist 
of  contractile  particles.  When  a  muscle  freshly  cut 
out  of  the  body  is  irritated  mechanically  with  a  needle 
or  chemically  with  an  acid,  it  contracts,  i.  e.,  becomes 
shorter  and  thicker  without  altering  its  total  volume, 
and  relaxes  again  when  the  stimulus  is  withdrawn. 
And  if  the  nerve  whose  fibres  are  distributed  through 
the  muscle  is  cut  out  with  it  and  then  stimulated  in 
the  same  way  at  the  cut  end,  the  fresh  muscle  con- 
tracts as  before.  Thus  the  nerve,  without  moving 
itself,  can  transmit  a  stimulus  to  the  muscle. 

But  it  is  certain  that  a  direct  stimulation  of  the 
muscle,  without  the  aid  of  the  nerve,  is  sufficient  to 
cause  its  contraction.     For  ammonia,  which  does  not 

84 


PHYSIOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  SYSTEM      85 

affect  the  nerve,  will  make  the  muscle  contract,  and, 
on  the  contrary,  the  poison  curare  paralyses  the  motor 
nerve  and  not  the  muscle. 

The  nerve  which  we  stimulated,  in  the  supposed 
case,  can  communicate  to  the  muscle  only  that  rude, 
uniform,  or  indifferent  stimulus.  But  since  every 
separate  nerve  fibril  ends,  as  we  have  seen,  in  a  dif- 
ferent part  of  the  muscle,  it  is  possible  for  an  extra- 
ordinarily fine  harmonious  combination  of  stimuli  of 
different  strengths  in  different  fibrils  and  bundles  of 
fibrils  to  cause  a  correspondingly  fine  and  harmonious 
combination  of  muscular  contractions,  and  thus  lead 
to  harmoniously  combined  movements  of  the  bones 
and  cartilages  to  which  the  muscles  are  attached  by 
sinews.  When  the  nerve  which  moves  the  muscle  of 
a  living  man  or  animal  is  severed,  after  a  short  time 
the  whole  severed  end  of  the  nerve  dies,  and  then  the 
muscle  dies  too  and  shrivels  up.  Thus  we  see  the 
tremendous  extent  to  which  the  muscle  depends  upon 
the  nerve. 

2.  The  Nerve  and  the  Neurokym.  From  the 
facts  described,  as  well  as  from  the  fact  that  sensory 
stimuli  are  conducted  to  the  brain,  it  clearly  follows 
that  within  the  living  nerve — really  in  the  axis-cylin- 
der, or  nervous  process  of  the  ganglion  cell — there 
takes  place  a  wave-like  molecular  movement,  which 
we  have  called  neurokym,  and  which  is  transmitted 
with  extraordinary  rapidity.  In  the  case  of  the 
motor  nerve  the  rate  is  about  thirty  metres  [say  one 
hundred  feet]  per  second.       The  rapidity  of  trans- 


86  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

mission  in  a  sensory  nerve  is  very  hard  to  measure; 
the  estimates  vary  between  twenty-six  and  two 
hundred  and  twenty-five  metres  per  second.  With 
lower  animals  the  transmission  of  the  neurokym  is 
much  slower  and  very  variable.  The  experiments  of 
physiologists  have  shown  that  the  same  nerve  can 
transmit  a  stimulus  in  either  direction.  But  com- 
monly the  motor  nerves  conduct  in  a  centrifugal 
direction,  and  the  sensory  nerves  in  a  centripetal. 

That  each  nerve  fibre  conducts  a  separate  current, 
like  a  telegraph  wire,  is  certain;  otherwise  the  finely 
distinguished  stimulations  of  muscle  fibres  and  the 
finely  distinguished  conductions  of  separate  sense- 
stimulations  would  be  impossible.  But  within  the 
insulated  nerve  fibres  the  nerve  fibrils  must  also  be 
insulated,  at  least  to  a  great  extent.  Otherwise  the 
fine  play  of  nervous  life  would  be  inconceivable  and 
the  finely  branched  unbundling  of  both  ends  of  the 
nerve  fibres  into  their  fibrils,  meaningless. 

And  now  what  is  the  nature  of  the  neurokym,  or 
nerve  wave,  which  is  transmitted  in  the  nerve  fibrils? 

Certain  it  is  that  the  excitations  of  the  outer  world, 
which  strike  the  senses,  are  transformed  into  energy 
and  stored  up  within  the  central  system,  and  that 
conversely  this  energy  of  the  central  nervous  system 
is  converted  again  into  muscular  movement.  The 
neurokym  cannot  be  a  simple  physical  wave,  such  as 
electricity,  light,  or  sound.  If  it  were,  its  exceed- 
ingly fine,  weak  waves  would  soon  exhaust  them- 
selves   without    causing   the   tremendous    discharges 


PHYSIOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  SYSTEM      87 

which  they  actually  call  forth  in  the  brain  and  out 
from  the  brain  in  the  muscles.  We  must  therefore 
suppose  that  on  its  way  through  the  neurones  the 
neurokym  liberates  new  forces,  and  this  might  well 
take  place  by  means  of  fine  isomeric  chemical 
processes  which  transmit  themselves  in  waves,  the 
chemical  changes  being  repaired  immediately  after 
the  waves  have  passed  but  setting  up  a  change  in  the 
next  part  of  the  nerve.  According  to  the  molecular 
condition  that  this  "  chemical  wave  "  confronts  at  the 
end  of  its  neurone,  the  stimulus  can  then  be  either 
strengthened  or  extinguished.  These  are  only  hy- 
potheses; for  the  actual  nature  of  the  neurokym  is 
not  known.  But  von  Bunge  is  certainly  quite  right 
when  he  says  in  the  first  volume  of  his  Text-hook  of 
Physiology :  "  Only  the  most  intimate  union  of  me- 
chanics and  chemistry  can  bring  us  nearer  to  the  solu- 
tion of  the  riddle.  The  mechanics  of  the  chemical 
elements — that  is  the  physics  of  the  future."  This  is 
as  true  of  neurokym  as  of  the  physiology  of  the 
muscles,  and  Bunge's  words  agree  with  the  view 
which  I  expressed  in  1894  in  my  lecture  on  brain  and 
mind.1 

Above  all,  the  supposed  chemistry  and  mechanics 
of  life  itself,  i.  e.,  of  the  cell-protoplasm,  is  something 
of  which  we  know  simply  nothing.  We  observe 
facts,  or  appearances,  and  seek  their  laws.  In  this 
reference  the  new  book  of  Richard  Semon's  2  makes 

1  Emil  Strauss,  publisher,  Bonn. 

2  Die  Mneme  als  einhaltendes   Prinzip  im  Wechsel  des  organischen 
Geschehens."    See  infra. 


88  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

a  very  real  advance  in  the  conception  of  vital  pro- 
cesses, especially  of  those  of  the  nervous  system.  By 
en  gram  Semon  understands  that  which  we  called  in 
Chapter  I.  a  memory- trace  or  memory-image,  but 
not  only  as  something  in  consciousness,  rather  as  a 
general  phenomenon  of  nature.  Thus  everything 
that  one  inherits  consists  of  groups  of  engrams.  In 
this  Semon  proceeds  from  the  ingenious  thought  of 
Hering,  who  regarded  all  instinct  as  a  kind  of 
memory.  Every  engram  always  consists  of  com- 
plexes of  simultaneous  or  successive  stimuli.  By 
ecphory  Semon  understands  the  power  of  an  engram 
to  afterwards  call  back  or  revive  engrams  which 
arose  at  the  same  time  with  it,  or  to  arise  again  itself 
in  the  same  form  that  it  had  before  through  a  similar 
but  weaker  stimulus.  Thus  ecphory  corresponds  to 
association.  Yet  these  notions  are  taken  in  a  much 
broader  sense,  and  in  the  next  place  they  are  in- 
dependent of  introspection  [i.  e.,  of  purely  conscious 
phenomena],  or  rather  use  the  latter  only  as  helps. 
Mnema  is  the  sum  of  the  engrams  which  an  organism 
has  inherited  or  acquired  for  itself.  The  reader  is 
referred  to  the  original  work,  which  really  contributes 
to  the  understanding  of  the  organic  process. 

3.  The  Reflex.  If  we  cut  off  a  frog's  head,  of 
course  its  brain  goes  too.  And  now  if  its  skin  is 
irritated  the  foot  makes  a  defensive  movement.  This 
movement  can  only  be  transmitted  by  the  spinal  cord, 
into  which  runs  the  sensory  nerve  and  from  which 
runs  the  motor  nerve.     In  order  to  make  possible 


PHYSIOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  SYSTEM      89 

these  reflex  movements  it  is  sufficient  to  leave  a  small 
excised  bit  of  the  spinal  cord  connected  with  the  cor- 
responding sensory  and  motor  nerves, — i.  e.,  with  the 
nerve  from  the  skin  or  other  sense-organ  and  the 
nerve  to  the  muscle;  but  so  long  as  the  spinal  cord 
remains  connected  with  different  parts  of  the  skin  and 
muscle  of  both  sides  of  the  body,  the  stimulation  of 
one  part  may  call  forth  movements  even  on  the  other 
side  of  the  body. 

This  phenomenon  is  what  the  physiologists  call 
reflex.  The  conception  of  reflex  implies  that  it  takes 
place  mechanically,  involuntarily  (apparently  un- 
consciously), and  always  in  the  same  way  when  the 
stimulus  is  the  same.  When  a  person  crosses  his 
legs  so  that  one  hangs  over  the  other  and  then  some 
one  gives  it  a  sharp  blow  on  the  tendon  below  the 
knee-cap,  the  result  is  a  knee-jerk  or  patellar  reflex, 
unless  it  is  prevented  by  a  strong  muscular  tension, 
and  the  foot  makes  a  sudden  involuntary  kick.  A 
certain  sickness,  in  which  some  of  the  bundles  of 
fibres  in  the  lumbar  region  of  the  spinal  cord  are  de- 
stroyed, completely  destroys  this  reflex;  and  this 
proves  that  the  stimulation  of  the  patellar  tendon  is 
transmitted  from  the  sensory  nerve  to  the  motor  nerve 
of  the  leg  by  means  of  this  part  of  the  spinal  cord 
(the  zone  of  Lissauer).  This,  then,  takes  place 
without  the  mediation  of  the  brain.  The  contraction 
of  the  pupil  of  the  eye  in  the  light  is  another  such 
reflex,  and  there  are  a  great  many  more. 

When  the  reflex  action  is  a  mere  twitch  like  the 


9o  MIND,  BRAIN,   AND  NERVES 

knee-jerk  we  speak  of  a  simple  reflex,  and  the  con- 
ception of  this  simple  reflex  is  the  main  idea  by  which 
physiologists  explain  the  mechanism  of  the  central 
nervous  system.  But  as  soon  as  we  pursue  the  sub- 
ject further  the  simple  becomes  very  complex. 

By  a  co-ordinated  reflex  we  mean  a  connected  set 
of  reflex  contractions,  which  produce  a  purposeful 
movement  such  as  the  defensive  movement  of  the 
frog's  leg.  Really  this  complex  act  should  no  longer 
be  called  reflex;  for  it  presupposes  a  set  of  compli- 
cated neurokym-combinations  in  the  spinal  cord,  and 
different  groups  of  neurones  must  be  involved  in  it. 
Nevertheless  the  co-ordinated  reflex  still  follows  the 
appropriate  stimulus  inevitably  and  thus  still  pos- 
sesses the  character  of  the  mechanical  twitch. 

4.  Inherited  Automatism}  A  higher  step  is 
formed  by  what  we  call  inherited  automatisms  or  in- 
stinct. Here  it  is  no  longer  a  mere  question  of  use- 
ful reflex  movements,  but  of  a  chain  of  co-ordinated 
reflexes  following  each  other  in  time,  each  one  re- 
leasing the  next,  and  all  together  constituting  a  com- 
plex performance  fitted  to  a  given  end.  If  we  cut 
off  the  head,  and  with  it  the  brain,  of  a  male  field- 

1 1  have  been  blamed  by  certain  persons  for  using  the  term  automa- 
tism for  instinct  and  not  merely  for  habit.  But  I  do  this  deliberately. 
"  Automism  "  is  derived  from  auTo/xaros  (spontaneous).  An  automaton 
is  a  machine  which  imitates  the  movements  of  a  living  being,  or  a  living 
being  whose  movements  are  always  carried  on  in  the  same  way,  like 
those  of  a  machine  when  you  press  the  button.  Similarly  the  word 
automatism  refers  not  to  the  cause  of  the  movement  but  to  the  way  it 
takes  place,  and  is  excellently  fitted  to  show  how  the  same  performance 
can  take  place  instinctively  as  a  result  of  inheritance  or  habitually  as  a 
result  of  individual  requirements.     (See  infra  :  Mnema.) 


PHYSIOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  SYSTEM      91 

cricket  and  put  a  female  under  it,  it  carries  out  the 
act  of  procreation,  a  series  of  purposive  movements, 
to  the  end,  in  a  completely  purposeful  manner.  If 
we  remove  the  whole  of  a  pigeon's  cerebrum  and 
throw  the  bird  in  the  air  it  flies  with  a  perfectly  regu- 
lar movement  to  the  nearest  object,  and  settles  down 
there  no  less  easily.  The  same  pigeon  also  swallows 
the  grain  that  you  put  in  its  beak  perfectly  well,  and 
yet  it  would  starve  to  death  if  left  alone  beside  a  heap 
of  grain,  because  it  is  not  able  to  associate  the  im- 
pression that  the  grain  makes  upon  its  eyes  or  its 
sense  of  smell  with  the  feeling  of  hunger.  In  the 
same  way,  if  male  and  female  brainless  pigeons  are 
shut  up  together  they  give  unmistakable  signs  of 
sexual  desire  but  do  not  gratify  it,  simply  because 
the  association  between  what  they  see  and  smell,  on 
the  one  hand,  and  the  motor  impulses  necessary  for 
the  satisfaction  of  their  desire,  on  the  other,  is  lack- 
ing. Thus  in  both  cases  there  are  present  two  chains 
of  automatisms,  which  are  not  connected  with  each 
other,  apparently  because  the  organ  which  usually 
unites  them  is  lacking. 

It  must  be  admitted  that  it  is  a  good  way  from  a 
reflex  to  an  automatism;  three  main  steps  must  be 
distinguished:  (1)  the  simple  twitch,  (2)  the  simple 
purposive  reflex  act,  (3)  a  longer  chain  of  purposive 
performances.  Yet  physiologists  do  not  hesitate  to 
derive  the  more  complex  from  the  simple  and  to  as- 
sume that  automatisms  are  combinations  of  reflexes, 
The  common  element  in  all  these  phenomena  is  the 


92  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

regular,  compulsory  release  of  movements  by  sense- 
stimulations  through  the  mediation  of  the  compli- 
cated organs  of  the  central  nervous  system;  a 
process  which  can  nevertheless  be  independent  of  the 
cerebrum.  I  say  can  be,  because  there  are  also  cere- 
bral reflexes  and  cerebral  automatisms. 

Here  arises  a  question  which  we  already  outlined 
when  speaking  of  the  painlessness  of  injuries  to  the 
cerebrum:  What  is  the  real  difference  between  the 
functions  of  the  cerebrum  and  those  of  the  spinal  cord 
and  the  lower  brain  centres?  I  think  that  this  is 
settled  by  comparative  physiology,  and  that  Isidor 
Steiner  has  hit  the  nail  on  the  head  through  an  ex- 
periment. Later,  when  we  review  the  physiology, 
we  shall  understand  the  matter  completely.  With 
men  and  other  mammals  and  with  birds,  the  cerebrum, 
as  we  have  already  seen,  outweighs  by  far  all  the 
other  centres.  There  are  kinds  of  fishes,  on  the  other 
hand,  in  wThich  the  mid-brain  (the  optic  lobes)  is  far 
larger  than  the  cerebrum.  If  the  cerebrum  is  re- 
moved from  these  fish  they  do  not  lose  the  power  of 
directing  their  automatisms;  they  make  their  ap- 
pearance when  food  is  left  for  them,  hunt  for  it,  and, 
judged  by  the  measure  of  a  fish's  intelligence,  behave 
themselves  normally,  if  we  make  allowance  for  the 
injured  organs  of  smell.  With  all  other  vertebrates, 
on  the  contrary,  and  even  with  those  invertebrates, 
such  as  ants,  in  which  the  cerebrum  has  the  preponder- 
ance, the  animal  from  which  this  is  removed  loses  its 
mental  guidance.     It  is  consequently  not  any  special 


PHYSIOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  SYSTEM 


93 


structure  of  the  cerebrum,  but  the  superior  influence 
of  the  largest  and  most  complex  superior  centres, 
that  determines  an  animal's  mental  control,  as 
Steiner  has  logically  proved.  This  simple  fact  alone 
is  sufficient  to  show  the  nonsense  of  the  current  as- 
sertion that  the  cerebrum  is  in  itself  the  only  "  organ 
of  consciousness."  (See  above,  Chapter  III.)  It  is 
only  for  the  reason  just  explained  that  human  super- 
consciousness  has  become  nothing  more  or  less  than 
the  inner  reflection  of  the  principal  activity  of  the 
human  cerebrum. 

When  a  stimulus  which  arrives  in  the  brain  gives 
rise  to  no  movement  but  is  transformed  into  tension, 
we  speak  of  an  arrest,  or  inhibition.  The  ganglion- 
cells  and  the  substance  between  them  ure  regarded 
partly  as  inhibitory  organs.  If,  on  the  other  hand, 
a  strong  movement  is  called  forth  by  an  inner,  intra- 
cerebral, stimulus  which  is  weak  in  itself,  we  speak 
with  Exner  of  smoothing  the  way   (Bahnung). 

5.  Results  of  Cerebral  Excisions.  The  physio- 
logist Flourens  was  the  first  to  completely  remove  the 
cerebrum  from  pigeons  and  yet  preserve  the  animals 
alive.  Afterwards  Goltz  succeeded  in  removing  the 
cerebrum  of  several  dogs,  with  the  exception  of  un- 
important parts  of  the  smell  centre,  and  preserved  at 
least  one  dog  in  good  health  for  eighteen  months. 
At  first  this  dog  had  to  be  fed  artifically,  but  gradu- 
ally regained  the  power  to  snatch  pieces  of  meat,  to 
chew  and  swallow,  and  also  to  lap  milk.  His  food 
had  to  be  put  in  his  muzzle,  for  he  no  longer  smelled. 


94  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

But  he  detected  a  solution  of  quinine,  though  he  con- 
sumed ordinary  dog  food  with  avidity.  If  his  feed- 
ing was  long  postponed  he  became  uneasy;  if,  on  the 
contrary,  he  had  eaten  more  than  enough  he  ceased  to 
swallow  (feeling  of  repletion).  He  slept  like  a 
normal  dog,  only  for  a  shorter  time,  but  did  not 
dream  (as  normal  dogs  do),  though  he  could  be  wak- 
ened by  sound  or  pinching.  When  he  was  pinched 
he  barked  and  tried  to  bite,  but  generally  snapped  at 
the  wrong  place.  Although  at  least  a  part  of  the 
optic  nerve  was  preserved,  visual  stimuli  made  no  im- 
pression at  all  upon  him.  Yet  he  could  walk  prop- 
erly. He  remembered  nothing,  but  growled  and 
barked  every  time  they  tried  to  feed  him.  He  was 
thus  a  child  of  the  moment  and  mentally  even  more 
helpless  than  the  brainless  pigeon.  But  he  still  had 
complicated  automatisms  and,  for  example,  would 
brush  a  drop  of  acid  off  the  skin  of  his  back  with  his 
hind  leg.  Only  through  the  extraordinarily  clever 
care  of  a  gifted  attendant  could  he  be  kept  alive. 
An  ant  or  a  cricket  whose  brain  (the  stalked  bodies) 
has  been  removed  acts  in  much  the  same  way  as 
Goltz's  dog. 

Children  without  a  cerebrum  have  also  been  known 
to  live  a  short  time,  to  cry  and  move  themselves,  and 
even  to  react  to  stimulations  of  the  skin. 

We  learn  from  these  facts: 

(a)  Quite  complicated  and  purposive  instincts 
and  automatisms  can  exist  without  a  cerebrum;  the 
subordinate  centres,  with  the  spinal  cord,  can  turn 


PHYSIOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  SYSTEM       95 

sense-impressions  to  account  and  transform  them  into 
orderly,  purposive  movements,  and  can  thus  in- 
stinctively feel  or  hear,  and  act. 

(b)  When  the  cerebrum  is  removed  from  animals 
in  which  it  is  preponderant,  these  automatisms  lose 
their  connection  with  each  other,  or  their  purposive 
co-operation  for  the  carrying  on  of  life,  so  that  the 
animal  is  like  an  imbecile  and  neglects  to  pursue  the 
necessities  and  aims  of  life,  to  eat,  to  drink,  to  beget. 
(Flourens's  pigeon,  Goltz's  dog,  Yersin's  crickets, 
my  ants,  the  brainless  new-born  child.) 

(c)  When  the  cerebrum  is  smaller  than  another 
brain  centre,  the  latter  takes  over  the  direction  of 
the  automatisms  and  makes  the  spontaneous  guidance 
of  life  possible  for  the  animal  without  a  cerebrum. 
(Steiner's  brainless  fish.) 

The  nerve-physiologist  can  make  no  greater  mis- 
take in  his  thinking  than  to  confuse  the  notion  of 
consciousness  (the  introspective  subject-matter  of 
psychology)  with  that  of  physiological  functions. 
There  can  be  no  organ  of  conciousness,  simply  be- 
cause "  consciousness  "  is  not  an  organic  conception 
and  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  physiological  concep- 
tion of  energy,  whose  inner,  introspective  side  it 
presents.  It  was  therefore  an  objectless  warfare  of 
words  when  the  physiologists  Munk  and  Goltz  were 
in  conflict  over  the  question  whether  the  latter's  brain- 
less dog  possessed  a  consciousness  or  not.  And  we 
must  hold  with  the  theory  of  Volkmann  and  Pflüger 
that  the  spinal  cord  and  the  subordinate  brain  centres 


96  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

of  that  dog  possessed  their  subordinate  minds  and 
their  subconsciousness;  a  theory  which  is  indirectly 
confirmed  by  the  animal's  expressions  of  displeasure 
and  pain.  Goltz  says,  to  be  sure,  that  his  dog  ex- 
pressed anger,  but  never  joy;  and  yet  his  greedy  feed- 
ing can  be  regarded  as  an  expression  of  pleasure. 

On  the  whole,  the  automatisms,  whose  higher  pur- 
posive combinations  are  known  as  instinct  and  con- 
stitute the  main  feature  in  the  nervous  life  of  most 
of  the  lower  animals,  must  be  regarded  as  a  lower  form 
of  the  same  mental  life  which  has  its  chief  seat  with 
men  in  the  lower  brain  centres,  but  which  has  lost  its 
independence  as  a  result  of  the  greater  and  greater 
encroachments  of  the  cerebrum.  Perfectly  independ- 
ent with  the  lower  fishes,  less  so  with  frogs,  still  less 
with  birds,  very  awkward  with  dogs,  with  men  these 
automatisms  have  become  only  the  subordinate  ser- 
vants of  the  cerebrum.  Yet  there  is  no  fundamental 
contradiction  between  instinct  and  reason,  and  the 
insects  with  the  most  instincts  show  the  greatest 
mental  plasticity. 

The  impulses  and  passions  of  human  beings  and 
the  lower  feelings  connected  with  them  are  remnants 
of  the  instincts,  and  rest  on  automatisms  performed, 
in  the  main,  by  the  lower  centres,  though  more  or  less 
strongly  controlled  by  the  cerebrum. 

6.  The  Plastic  Work  of  the  Cerebrum.  In  rela- 
tive contrast  to  reflex  and  automatic  acts,  we  observe 
in  men  and  brutes  a  kind  of  nervous  activity  which 
does  not  follow  a  stimulus  necessarily  or  mechanic- 


FIIYSIOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  SYSTEM      97 

ally,  but  adapts  itself  to  each  animal  individually 
according  to  the  conditions  which  affect  it,  and  also 
produces  voluntary  movements — or  reasonable  con- 
duct; which  appears  to  arise  spontaneously  from  the 
brain  in  consequence  of  the  actions  and  reactions  of  the 
energy — of  the  memories  and  so  forth — stored  up 
there.  The  utilisation  of  experience,  i.  e.,  of  former 
influences  of  the  senses  upon  the  brain,  plays  a  great 
part  here  and  takes  place  in  accordance  with  the  laws 
of  memory,  which  we  learned  in  Chapter  I.  An 
automatism  is  regardless  of  experience,  and  reacts  the 
hundredth  time  to  the  same  stimulus  in  exactly  the 
same  way  as  it  did  the  first  time ;  but  the  plastic  nerv- 
ous activity  reacts  differently  and  constantly  corrects 
errors  w7hich  it  has  made.  A  scalded  cat  fears  hot 
water  and  a  wrhipped  dog  fears  the  whip.  This  plas- 
tic manner  of  reaction  in  the  nervous  system — its  plia- 
bility and  capacity  for  combination  and  adaptation — 
corresponds  to  a  whole  progressive  series  of  higher 
faculties  which  we  learned  to  know  in  psychology  as 
judgment,  reason,  and  imagination.  In  more  recent 
times  they  have  been  also  called  powers  of  modifica- 
tion. It  is  a  great  mistake  to  suppose  that  this  plas- 
tic faculty  of  combination  and  adaptation  belongs  to 
man  alone.  It  is  already  fairly  strongly  developed 
in  the  higher  mammals.  As  early  as  1810,  P.  Huber 
demonstrated  the  memory  of  ants,  and  thirty  years 
ago  I  proved  beyond  a  doubt  that  ants  make  use  of 
experience  in  plastic  adaptation.  In  more  recent  times 
this  demonstration  has  been  carried  further  by  von 


98  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

Buttel-Reepen  with  bees,  the  Jesuit  Father  Wasmann 
and  myself  with  ants  x  (by  me  also  with  a  water- 
beetle  and  with  bees),  and  by  Lubbock  with  a  wasp. 
Some  power  of  modification  or  plasticity  is  indispen- 
sable for  every  independent,  living,  moving  creature. 
Thus  if  the  subordinate  nervous  centres,  which  are 
now  dependent  in  the  case  of  men  and  the  higher 
brutes,  have  lost  their  plasticity  and  now  direct  only 
a  purely  reflex  and  automatic  activity,  we  must  sup- 
pose that  this  happens  simply  as  a  result  of  their 
subordination  to  a  main  governing  nerve  centre, 
the  cerebrum. 

These  are  biological  facts.  Physiology  cannot  yet 
understand  the  mechanism  of  the  reflex,  because  it 
does  not  know  the  chemistry  of  life,  and  can  still  less 
comprehend  that  of  the  plastic  nerve-function.  It 
must  content  itself  with  observation  and  inferences 
from  analogy. 

7.  Secondary  Automatisms.  We  have  already 
seen  in  the  chapter  on  psychology  that  the  repetition 
and  fixation  of  memory-images  brings  about  what  we 
call  habit.  But  habit  again  gradually  becomes  auto- 
matic, if  indeed  not  quite  so  strongly  so  as  inherited 
instincts.  Habits  are  called  secondary  automatisms. 
Even  with  ants  and  bees  we  can  establish  the  presence 
of  habits.  The  plastic  brain  action  thus  becomes 
automatic    by    repetition.     With    men    habit    is    an 

1  It  is  impossible  to  give  a  review  here  of  the  highly  instructive  results 
attained  in  comparative  psychology.  I  therefore  refer  the  reader  to  my 
treatise  on  "  T7ie  Mental  Powers  of  Ants."  Ernst  Reinhart,  publisher, 
Munich,  1901.    ["Ants  and  Some  Other  Insects,"  KeganPaul,  pub.,  1894.] 


PHYSIOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  SYSTEM     99 

automatism  of  the  cerebrum.  This  tendency  of  all 
plastic  nerve  action  to  become  automatic  through 
repetition  shows  plainly  enough  that  the  plastic  tend- 
ency of  vital  energies  is  not  secondary,  but  primary. 

We  shall  not  pursue  this  highly  important  question 
any  further  here;  it  would  lead  us  too  far  afield. 
But  it  follows  from  what  has  been  said  that  the 
physiology  of  the  cerebrum  is  not  really  different  from 
that  of  the  other  nerve  centres;  it  is  only  more  com- 
plex and  superior  in  command,  exactly  as  the  cerebral 
mind  is  only  more  complex  than  the  minds  of  the 
subordinate  nerve  centres. 

8.  Localisation.  I  shall  not  repeat  here  what  has 
been  said  in  Chapter  II.  The  celebrated  brain- 
anatomist  Gall  was  the  first  who  localised  speech 
anything  like  correctly.  Yet  he  believed  that  every 
possible  mental  faculty  could  be  localised  in  the  brain, 
even  through  the  skull;  and  though  he  discovered 
many  truths  intuitively  and  ingeniously,  he  mingled 
so  many  phantasms  with  it  all  that  he  discredited  an 
idea  which  was  correct  enough  in  itself,  It  is  pecu- 
liar at  any  rate  that  the  dogs  from  whose  cerebra 
Goltz  cut  out  the  frontal  lobes  became  ill-natured, 
while  those  from  which  he  removed  the  occipital  lobes 
showed  themselves  very  gentle — which  corresponds 
fairly  well  with  Gall's  idea.  From  the  localisation 
given  in  Chapter  II.  of  speech,  memory-images  of 
sensation,  and  the  motor  fields  of  the  cerebral  cortex, 
it  undoubtedly  follows  that  the  different  divisions  of 
the  cerebrum  show  a  relative  specialisation  of  their 
functions,     But  they  are  all  so  intimately  connected 


ioo  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

together  by  the  association  neurones  that  it  is  scarcely 
possible  to  put  a  more  detailed  localisation  of  the 
mental  faculties  to  the  test.  In  any  event  we  make  a 
partial  use  of  our  right  cerebral  hemispheres  and  a 
partial  use  of  our  left  for  different  purposes.  But 
pathology  teaches  that  after  the  loss  of  a  part  of  the 
brain  other  neighbouring  parts  can  be  trained  to  take 
its  place,  if  the  injury  has  not  been  too  great.  In 
short,  our  cerebrum  is  our  mental  organ  and  it  is 
clear  that  certain  neurones  of  its  different  divisions 
are  at  work  when  we  work  mentally,  but  in  such  a 
complicated  manner  that  we  are  still  a  very  long  way 
from  gaining  even  a  crude  idea  of  the  mechanism  of 
this  work. 

But  this  much  is  sure,  that  the  cultivation  of  speech 
as  the  coin  of  thought  (see  Chapter  I.)  has  given  a 
tremendously  broadened  field  to  the  plastic  activity 
of  the  cerebrum  and  has  alone  made  human  culture 
possible,  especially  through  the  storing  up  of  the 
mental  work  of  our  forbears  by  means  of  written 
speech. 

9.  The  Senses.  The  physiology  of  the  sense- 
organs  is  very  complex.  It  is  founded  on  Johann 
Müller's  doctrine  of  the  specific  energy  of  the  senses, 
as  follows: 

(a)  Different  kinds  of  stimuli,  or  processes  in  the 
external  world,  always  produce  the  same  general 
kind  of  effect  in  the  same  senses.  For  example, 
pressure  and  light-waves  which  affect  the  eye  call 
forth  sensations  of  colour;  and  catarrh  of  the  tym- 


PHYSIOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  SYSTEM     101 

panic  cavity  and  real  ringing  of  bells  both  cause  a 
"  ringing  "  in  the  ears. 

(b)  One  and  the  same  stimulus  acting  on  different 
sensory  nerves  causes  different  sensations.  When 
I  press  the  retina  there  are  sensations  of  colour,  when 
I  press  the  inner  ear  there  are  sounds,  when  I  press 
the  skin  there  is  a  feeling  of  touch,  and  the  same  rays 
of  sunshine  which  produce  sensations  of  light  in  the 
retina  produce  feelings  of  warmth  on  the  skin.  But 
when  we  compare  the  sense-organs  and  sense-im- 
pressions of  different  animals  we  come  to  the  conclu- 
sion that  the  specific  energy  of  the  senses  did  not  exist 
in  the  beginning,  but  has  been  built  up  very  gradu- 
ally through  the  accommodation  of  the  structure  of 
an  animal's  sense-organs  to  definite  kinds  of  stimuli 
in  the  outer  world,  that  of  the  eye  to  light,  of  the  ear 
to  sound,  of  the  nose  to  the  chemical  qualities  of 
bodies  soluble  in  the  air.  At  first  there  was  an  un- 
differentiated skin-sense  in  lower  animals,  which  has 
gradually  become  differentiated  into  various  specific 
organs.  The  eye  of  lower  animals,  for  example,  is 
still  very  primitive;  it  has  been  shown  that  such  ani- 
mals feel  the  light  with  their  skin,  but  in  individual 
spots  certain  nerve  endings  are  gradually  developed 
which  adapt  themselves  especially  for  the  reception  of 
light-waves. 

The  specific  energy  of  the  senses  is  thus  variable, 
and  only  with  the  higher,  completely  differentiated 
senses  is  it  sharply  specific.  Specific  energy  is  a 
sensational    quality,    and    thus    psychological    rather 


io2  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

than  physiological.  Light,  colour,  warmth,  pain,  are 
psychological  conceptions.  This  is  why  a  colour- 
blind person,  for  example,  can  form  absolutely  no 
idea  of  how  a  normal  person  distinguishes  green  from 
red.  And  thus  it  is  clear  that  those  parts  of  the  cere- 
brum which  receive  the  stimuli  of  different  sensory 
nerves  give  them  a  different  qualitative  value,  ac- 
cording to  the  specific  energy  of  each  particular  sense. 
In  other  words,  specific  energy  is  a  cerebral  phenom- 
enon. This  conclusion  could  really  be  proved  by  such 
a  fact  as  this.  Both  the  eyes  of  a  blind  man  who 
happened  to  be  under  my  care,  and  consequently  both 
the  optic  nerves,  had  been  destroyed  for  twenty-five 
years;  yet  he  still  had  hallucinations  of  sight  and  be- 
lieved that  he  saw  persons  in  front  of  him  in  life-like 
figure  and  colour. 

But  all  this  is  far  from  proving  that  the  original 
cause  of  specific  energy  lies  in  the  cerebrum.  It  is 
much  more  probable  from  the  history  of  the  develop- 
ment of  the  senses  in  the  animal  kingdom  that  it  was 
gradually  developed  as  a  result  of  the  formation  of 
the  peripheral  sense-organs. 

This  is  so  true  that  the  difference  between  the  struc- 
ture of  certain  senses  in  the  lower  animals  and  our 
own  enables  us  to  conclude  that  their  specific  energy 
must  be  to  some  extent  different  from  ours.  To  il- 
lustrate: Whether  a  sense  can  give  an  accurate  or 
only  an  inaccurate  knowledge  of  space  or  time  de- 
pends upon  its  arrangement  and  position.  We 
human  beings  recognise  space  directly  by  means  of 


PHYSIOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  SYSTEM     103 

touch  and  sight,  and  time  by  means  of  various  sense- 
impressions,  especially  by  means  of  hearing — I  am 
not  talking  about  indirect  conclusions  drawn  by  the 
aid  of  clocks  and  other  apparatus.  The  sense  of 
smell,  on  the  contrary,  can  give  no  knowledge  of 
space,  because  of  its  hidden  position  and  its  immo- 
bility. But  I  have  shown  that  with  certain  insects 
the  organ  of  smell  situated  at  the  end  of  moving  feel- 
ers gives  a  knowledge  of  space ;  so  that  the  insect  has 
what  we  might  call  contact-smells  and  a  topochemical 
smell-sense.  Yet  we  cannot  conceive  of  such  a  topo- 
chemical smell  without  a  modification  of  the  specific 
energy,  i.e.,  of  the  subjective  quality,  of  the  sensa- 
tions as  felt  by  us.  Because  the  images  of  differently 
coloured  objects  are  given  in  miniature  in  their  exact 
form,  photographed  on  the  retina  of  the  eye,  and  be- 
cause the  movements  of  the  two  eyes  enable  our 
retinas  to  come  in  constant  contact  with  the  light- 
effects  of  the  outer  world,  this  sense  gives  us  a 
remarkably  exact  knowledge  of  the  most  distant  ex- 
ternal space.  Because  our  skin  can  feel  the  different 
parts  of  surrounding  objects  in  a  very  reliable  way, 
the  sense  of  touch  gives  an  exact  knowledge  of  the 
space  nearest  to  us.  [Both  these  examples  show  that 
the  inner  experience  depends  largely  upon  the  con- 
struction of  the  organ.] 

Since  it  is  impossible  to  go  into  the  complicated 
details  of  the  physiology  of  the  senses  here,  I  shall 
speak  briefly  of  those  senses  only  which  are  possessed 
by  man.     These  senses  are  also  found,  at  least  in 


io4  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

part,  in  most  of  the  lower  animals.  Yet  many  ani- 
mals are  without  the  sense  of  hearing,  many  without 
the  eye ;  and,  as  we  have  already  explained,  variations 
of  specific  energy  are  at  least  very  probable.  That 
any  other  developed  special  sense  is  present  with  any 
animal  is  not  established,  but  not  impossible.  Never- 
theless up  to  the  present  all  attempts  to  demonstrate 
it  experimentally  have  had  negative  results,  espe- 
cially the  attempt  to  discover  a  special  sense  of  direc- 
tion; though,  to  be  sure,  the  electric  fishes,  which  give 
electric  shocks  by  means  of  a  special  nerve  organ,  may 
have  a  specific  sensation  for  it. 

The  Sense  of  Sight.  The  optic  nerve  lies  at  the 
base  of  the  brain,  and  there  in  the  case  of  man  the 
fibres  from  the  two  eyes  meet  and  half  of  those  from 
each  eye  cross  over  to  the  other  side  of  the  brain.  The 
end  of  the  optic  nerve  is  spread  out  at  the  back  of  the 
eye  in  the  retina,  and  here  we  find  the  ganglion  cells 
of  its  neurones.  The  images  of  the  outer  world 
formed  in  the  eye  by  means  of  the  crystalline  lens,  the 
vitreous  body,  and  the  other  parts  of  the  organ,  are 
thrown  on  the  retina,  whose  neurones  conduct  them 
through  the  optic  nerve  to  the  external  corpus  genicu- 
laturrtj  a  subordinate  brain  centre.  At  the  point 
where  the  two  optic  nerves  cross,  their  fibres  divide 
into  two  branches,  one  of  which  runs  to  the  cerebral 
hemisphere  of  the  same  side,  the  other  to  that  of  the 
other  side.  The  ganglion  cells  of  the  external  corpus 
geniculatum  transmit  the  retinal  image  again  through 
their  nerve  processes  to  the  cerebral  cortex  of  the 


PHYSIOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  SYSTEM     105 

inner  (median)  side  of  the  occipital  lobe  (O,  Fig.  10) , 
which  thus  forms  the  centre  for  what  is  called  mental 
vision,  i.e.,  for  cerebral  vision.  But  by  means  of  re- 
flex mechanisms  in  the  corpora  quadrigemina,  these 
neurones  are  also  connected  with  the  muscles  which 
move  the  eye  and  the  pupils. 

The  sense  of  sight  tells  us  of  the  colours,  forms, 
and  movements  of  objects.  Sight  with  the  two  eyes 
together  also  enables  us  to  distinguish  "  depth,"  or 
distance  in  the  third  dimension.  In  the  case  of  no 
other  sense  can  we  show  so  beautifully  (see  Chapter 
I.)  how  sensations  must  first  be  trained  and  elabo- 
rated in  the  brain  in  order  to  become  perceptions. 
Nowhere  else  can  we  show  so  well  that  what  the  mind 
gets  from  nerve  stimuli  is  no  longer  what  our  nerves 
originally  transmitted,  but  the  gradual  product  of  an 
important  and  oft-repeated  brain  activity. 

The  Sense  of  Hearing.  This  sense  with  men  is 
seated  in  the  cochlea  of  the  inner  ear,  through  which 
the  auditory  nerve  is  distributed.  The  sound-waves 
are  communicated  to  the  organ  of  hearing  in  the  coch- 
lea by  the  vibrations  of  the  tympanic  cavity,  the  audi- 
tory bones,  and  the  fenestra.  The  auditory  nerve 
runs  to  the  medulla  oblongata,  where  it  forms  a  gan- 
glion and  comes  into  connection  with  the  cortex  of  the 
temporal  lobe  of  the  cerebrum,  evidently  by  means 
of  the  neurones  of  the  inner  corpus  geniculatum;  but 
these  relations  are  very  involved  and  still  confused 
(see  Figs.  7  and  9). 

The  Sense  of  Equilibrium,     Along  with  the  audi- 


io6  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

tory  nerve  runs  the  vestibular  nerve,  which  accom- 
panies it  to  the  labyrinth  of  the  ear,  but  ends  there  in 
the  semicircular  canals.  It  has  now  been  fairly  well 
established  by  Mach  and  others  that  this  nerve  serves 
for  subconscious  sensations  produced  by  the  bodily 
equilibrium,  by  changes  in  its  rate  of  movement,  and 
by  its  bendings.  At  the  other  end  the  nerve  makes 
directly  for  the  base  of  the  cerebellum,  where  lie  the 
ganglion  cells  from  which  at  least  a  part  of  its  fibres 
spring.  Other  of  its  neurones  form  a  ganglion  in 
the  petrosal  bone. 

The  Sense  of  Smell.  The  fine  chemical  molecules 
which  emanate  from  smellable  objects  are  mixed  with 
the  air  and  stimulate  the  endings  of  the  olfactory 
nerve  to  produce  the  hundreds  of  different  sensations 
that  we  call  smells.  These  nerve  endings  lie  deeply 
buried  in  the  upper  part  of  the  mucous  membrane  of 
the  nose,  in  very  close  connection  with  the  olfactory 
bulbs  of  the  cerebrum,  whose  neurones  are  thus  al- 
most directly  connected  with  the  mucous  membrane 
by  means  of  short  fibres.  The  olfactory  bulbs  (Fig.  7) 
are  connected  by  means  of  a  path  of  fibres  (the 
tr actus  olfactorius,  Fig.  7)  with  the  point  of  the  tem- 
poral lobe  of  the  cerebrum  (the  cornu  ammonis  and 
its  accessories)  ;  and  this  is  the  olfactory  centre  (Figs. 
9,  10). 

The  olfactory  is  the  only  sensory  nerve  in  direct 
connection  with  the  cerebrum.  This  can  be  ex- 
plained in  this  way:  The  cerebrum,  which  scarcely 
exists  at  all  in  lower  vertebrates,  is  developed  in  the 


PHYSIOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  SYSTEM     107 

first  place  as  an  outgrowth  of  the  olfactory  nerve,  and 
then  increases  in  size  and  importance  until  at  last 
with  higher  animals  it  has  become  the  main  centre  of 
the  nervous  system. 

The  Sense  of  Taste.  The  sense  of  taste,  whose 
end-organs  lie  in  the  mouth  and  on  the  tongue,  in- 
forms us  of  some  of  the  chemical  qualities  (sweet, 
sour,  salt,  bitter,  metallic)  of  certain  substances  which 
dissolve  in  the  saliva.  Beyond  this,  what  we  still  call 
the  taste  of  our  food  [all  the  delicate  flavours]  con- 
sists of  odours  which  go  up  from  the  back  of  the 
mouth  to  the  nose.1 

The  nerve  of  taste  is  distributed  like  a  common 
nerve  of  touch,  has  a  ganglion,  and  ends  in  the 
medulla  oblongata.  Its  cerebral  centre  is  not  yet 
exactly  known. 

The  Shin  Senses.  These  were  formerly  confused 
with  each  other  because  they  are  distributed  every- 
where in  the  skin.  But  in  more  recent  times,  von 
Frey  in  particular  has  succeeded  in  clearly  proving 
that  the  sensitive  places  for  pressure,  warmth,  cold, 
and  pain  are  situated  in  different,  though  closely  con- 
tiguous, spots  in  the  skin.  Thus  we  must  distinguish 
from  each  other  the  senses  of  touch  or  pressure, 
warmth,  cold,  and  pain.  There  are  even  certain  parts 
of  the  body  in  which  one  or  other  of  these  is  lacking; 

1  [The  reader  can  prove  this  for  himself  easily  enough  by  holding  his 
nose  and  trying  to  distinguish  between  raw  apple  and  raw  potato,  or 
between  different  kinds  of  meats,  soups,  fruits,  or  candies  by  taste  alone. 
In  trying  the  experiment  one  should  take  care  not  to  draw  the  breath  up 
into  the  nose  from  the  back  of  the  mouth. — Tr.J 


io8  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

the  cornea  of  the  eye,  for  example,  feels  nothing  but 
pain.  The  nerve  endings  of  the  skin  are  of  various 
sorts;  the  "  corpuscles  of  Vater,"  the  touch  "  corpus- 
cles of  Meissner ':  (Fig.  6),  the  "end  bulbs  of 
Krause,"  and  free  endings  between  the  cells  of  the 
epidermis.  The  free  endings  serve  apparently  for 
sensations  of  pain,  the  corpuscles  of  Meissner  for  the 
sense  of  touch,  and  the  end  bulbs  of  Krause,  accord- 
ing to  Frey,  for  heat  and  cold.  But  that  is  not  all 
quite  certain  yet.  The  cerebral  cortical  centre  for 
the  skin  senses  is  almost  identical  with  the  motor  cen- 
tres (see  Fig.  9) . 

Sense  Not  Clearly  Differentiated.  We  have  seen 
that  our  senses  are  apparently  developed  from  senses 
which  are  not  clearly  differentiated  in  some  of  the 
lower  animals.  But  we  ourselves  still  possess  a  whole 
set  of  dull,  only  indefinitely  localised  feelings  which 
we  designated  in  Chapter  I.  as  visceral  feelings  and  of 
which  we  said  that  they  mark  the  transition  from  the 
sphere  of  knowing  to  the  sphere  of  emotion.  These 
feelings  are  caused  through  certain  internal  nerve 
endings  the  stimulation  of  which  produces  in  our  con- 
sciousness more  or  less  distinct  varieties  of  sensation, 
though  we  cannot  distinguish  them  exactly  from 
each  other  as  senses.  Examples  of  these  are  found 
in  the  feelings  of  hunger,  thirst,  fear,  sexual  desire, 
the  desire  to  urinate  and  defecate,  tickling  and 
itching. 

Muscular  Sense.  There  has  been  much  conflict 
over  the  muscular  sense  or  the  sense  of  movement, 


PHYSIOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  SYSTEM     109 

which  has  also  been  called  the  space  sense.  It  is  cer- 
tain that  we  feel  our  bodily  movements,  and  through 
feeling  recognise  what  limb  is  moving  and  how  it  is 
moving;  we  feel  the  active  and  passive  movement  of 
the  muscles,  the  position  of  the  limb  that  is  moved, 
the  amount  of  muscular  exertion,  the  resulting  fa- 
tigue, the  weight  and  the  resistance  of  objects.  Are 
there  special  nerve  endings  in  the  muscles  through 
which  these  sensations  are  produced?  According  to 
certain  experiments  it  seems  that  there  are. 

We  thus  see  that  the  time-honoured  "  five  senses  " 
no  longer  pass  current.  The  matter  is  more  complex. 
Moreover  in  Chapter  I.  we  saw  how  sensory  stimuli 
are  mentally  elaborated  in  the  brain,  and  we  shall  not 
return  to  the  subject  here.  But  these  slight  hints 
are  enough  to  show  that  the  physiology  of  the  cere- 
brospinal nervous  system  is  a  veritable  world,  though 
we  are  still  very  ignorant  about  it,  and  indeed  it  has 
just  begun  to  reveal  itself  to  us.  I  will  only  add  that 
outside  of  the  cerebro-spinal  system  there  are  many 
scattering  neurones  in  the  body  which  discharge  small 
special  local  functions  in  relative  independence,  like 
so  many  lower  animals — automatically  regulate  the 
beating  of  the  heart,  for  example,  or  expand  and  con- 
tract the  blood-vessels,  or  even  bring  about  the  secre- 
tion of  certain  glands.  The  cerebrum  can  not  modify 
their  activities  everywhere  with  the  same  certainty 
and  defmiteness;  for  this  depends  upon  its  connec- 
tion with  these  scattered  neurones  through  collateral 
nerve  branches.     It  depends  also  upon  the  force  with 


no  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

which  the  neurokym  of  the  cerebrum  is  thrown  into 
these  peripheral  mechanisms;  and  this  explains  oc- 
casional almost  incredible  effects  of  suggestion  in 
certain  somnambulists,  such  as  bleeding  stigmata, 
blisters,  the  absence  of  bleeding  from  cuts,  and  many 
others.  Formerly  such  occurrences  were  interpreted 
as  frauds  or  miracles,  according  to  one's  individual 
point  of  view;  they  are  neither  one  nor  the  other,  but 
rest  on  the  cerebrum's  peculiar  faculty  of  occasionally 
sending  strong  stimuli  to  a  special  part  of  the  peri- 
phery and  of  checking  others  which  would  naturally 
go  there. 


CHAPTER  V 

EMBRYOLOGY    AND    RACE    HISTORY    OF    THE    NERVOUS 

SYSTEM 

(1)     Embryological    History     or     Ontogeny.    In- 

heritance. 

/^NTOGENY  means  the  origin  of  the  individual. 
^^  Human  beings  originate,  like  most  other  living 
things,  from  the  union  of  two  microscopic  germ  cells, 
a  male  spermatozoon  and  a  female  ovum.  The  nuclei 
of  the  cells  play  a  very  special  part  in  this,  while  the 
protoplasm  of  the  ovum  usually  serves  only  as 
nourishment  for  the  nuclear  substance.  Reproduc- 
tion and  union  are  thus  the  same  thing ;  the  life  of  the 
parents  is  carried  forward  in  common  by  two  living 
germs,  not  a  new  life  produced. 

The  embryonic  cell  derived  from  the  two  united 
germ  cells  draws  nourishment  from  the  yolk  and  di- 
vides and  subdivides,  thus  producing  very  many  em- 
bryonic cells  or  blastomeres,  which  are  distributed  in 
different  layers  and  gradually  form  the  embryo.  In 
this  process  of  division  or  mitosis,  the  hereditary  sub- 
stance or  chromatin  is  always  distributed  in  such  a 
way  that  approximately  or  perhaps  exactly  one  half  of 
the  substance  derived  from  the  father  and  one  half  of 

in 


ii2  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

that  from  the  mother  go  to  each  cell.  In  its  growth 
the  embryo  goes  through  all  possible  transformations 
of  form  in  at  least  partial  imitation  of  the  forms  of 
ancestors  of  the  species;  for  example,  the  caterpillar 
form  of  the  butterfly,  which  corresponds  to  the  butter- 
fly's ancestor,  the  worm;  the  teeth  of  the  embryo  of 
the  whale  which  disappear  afterwards  but  correspond 
to  the  teeth  of  the  whale's  ancestors,  for  the  adult 
whale  itself  has  no  teeth;  the  gill  arches  of  the  human 
embryo,  which  point  back  to  our  fish-like  aquatic  an- 
cestors; and  so  on  indefinitely.  The  nature  of  the 
mysterious  energies  by  which  the  forms  of  the  embryo 
of  every  kind  of  animal  or  plant  are  determined  can- 
not be  discussed  here,  nor  the  hypotheses  about  them. 
Yet  we  must  state  this: 

(a)  The  normal  development  of  an  embryo  de- 
pends upon  the  healthiness  of  the  two  germ  cells  from 
which  it  originates,  its  freedom  from  disturbances 
in  its  further  development,  and  good,  appropriate 
nourishment. 

( b )  The  embryo  represents  a  mixture  of  the  pecu- 
liarities of  the  paternal  and  the  maternal  germ  cells, 
and  in  its  development  now  the  one  and  now  the  other 
takes  the  lead. 

(c)  In  the  fertilisation  of  an  ovum  by  a  spermato- 
zoon there  is  a  tremendous  play  of  chance;  for  the 
reproductive  glands  of  the  father  contain  millions  of 
spermatozoa  and  those  of  the  mother  at  least  very 
many  ova,  while  only  one  spermatozoon  has  the  good 
fortune  to  fructify  a  given  ovum.     But  it  is  to  be 


EM  BR  YOLOG  Y  AND  RACE  HIS  TOR  Y  113 

definitely  understood  that  the  substance  of  each  sper- 
matozoon contains  a  definite  mixture  of  the  energies 
of  its  ancestors  which  is  different  from  that  in  any 
of  the  rest.  The  same  is  true  of  the  ovum.  So  we 
see  that  the  hereditary  peculiarities  of  the  being 
which  springs  from  them  both  are  determined  by 
a  combination  of  the  mixture  of  energies  in  some  par- 
ticular fructifying  spermatozoon  with  that  in  some 
particular  ovum.  Moreover,  either  of  the  two  germs 
may  predominate  over  the  other  in  the  combination. 

Nutritive  relations  in  the  body  of  the  mother  are  un- 
doubtedly important  for  the  normal  health  and  de- 
velopment of  the  embryo;  but  they  do  not  determine 
its  individual  characteristics  in  the  slightest,  because, 
in  spite  of  the  very  important  influence  of  the  mother, 
it  receives,  on  the  average,  as  many  characteristics 
from  the  tiny  paternal  cell  as  from  the  ovum. 

In  each  embryo  a  small  supply  of  reproductive  cells 
is  reserved  in  a  definite  fund  (Anlage)  as  sex  or  germ 
cells.  These  cells  are  at  first  neither  masculine  nor 
feminine  and  their  arrangement  is  at  least  apparently 
neutral.  But  at  a  definite  period  in  the  life  of  the 
embryo  it  becomes  settled  whether  this  germ-fund 
is  to  be  masculine  or  feminine.  In  the  former  case, 
the  cells  develop  into  spermatozoa  and  make  a  place 
for  themselves  in  the  masculine  reproductive  glands. 
In  the  second  case,  they  develop  into  ova  and  build 
their  place  in  the  ovaries.  Thus  male  and  female 
glands  of  sex  arise  from  the  same  germ  outfit 
(Anlage).     But  when  the   differentiation  has   once 

8 


1 14  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NER  VES 

taken  place  the  whole  subsequent  development  of  the 
individual  in  all  parts  of  the  body  gradually  takes 
on  male  or  female  characteristics,  and  in  certain  ani- 
mals where  the  two  sexes  are  very  different  (such  as 
peacocks,  deer,  and  ants),  this  involves  striking  dif- 
ferences in  the  whole  bodily  form. 

The  nervous  system  is  developed  from  the  outer 
germ-layer,  i.  e.,  from  the  same  layer  of  the  embryo 
as  the  skin  and  the  senses.  In  the  median  line  of  the 
back,  a  part  of  the  ectoderm  folds  in  to  form  a  groove, 
which  then  becomes  detached  from  the  outer  surface, 
and  develops  into  the  brain  and  spinal  cord.  Then 
the  cells  of  this  central  nerve  organ  multiply  tre- 
mendously and  form  the  outlines  of  the  separate  parts 
of  the  grey  substance.  Then  later  the  fibres  grow, 
apparently  from  the  cells,  and  much  later,  partly  in- 
deed after  the  birth  of  the  child,  these  fibres  surround 
themselves  with  the  wThite  medullary  sheath.  The  re- 
lations of  the  nervous  elements  of  the  embryo  to  those 
of  the  adult  have  been  already  discussed  in  Chapter 
II.  According  to  what  was  stated  there,  the  peri- 
pheral nerve  fibres  grow  out  directly  from  the  cells 
with  which  they  are  connected. 

At  the  time  of  birth  the  brain  is  already  quite  large ; 
with  the  human  embryo  indeed  it  is  large  beyond  all 
proportion.  This  shows  howT  early  the  foundation 
for  our  organ  of  thought,  feeling,  will,  and  movement 
is  prepared;  and  yet  in  the  new-born  child  a  large 
number  of  the  cerebral  neurones  are  still  grey,  with- 
out medullary  sheath,  and  unable  to  function.     These 


EM  BR  YOLOG  Y  AND  RACE  HIS  TOR  Y  1 1 5 

sheaths  are  developed  only  gradually  during  the 
child's  first  year,  and  with  their  appearance  the  neu- 
rones first  begin  to  work.  From  this  it  follows  that 
much  of  what  we  suppose  an  infant  to  have  "  learned  " 
was  not  learned  at  all;  but  inherited  instincts  of  all 
sorts  began  to  manifest  themselves  when  the  organ 
on  which  they  depend  got  ready  to  act.  First  the  re- 
flex centres  of  the  spinal  cord  and  the  ganglia  at  the 
base  of  the  brain  came  into  function,  and  this  pro- 
duced automatisms,  such  as  sucking.  Then  the  im- 
pressions of  the  external  world  began  to  exert  a 
moulding  effect  on  feeling,  hearing,  sight,  taste,  and 
smell.  In  other  words,  these  impressions  gradually 
reached  the  cerebral  centres  as  one  after  the  other  of 
the  latter  became  capable  of  functioning;  and  the 
empty  page  of  the  cerebrum  began  to  be  inscribed 
with  concrete  memory  pictures. 

The  observation  of  the  gradual  development  of  the 
mental  activities  of  the  young  child,  first  undertaken 
by  Kussmaul  and  Prey  er,  is  highly  instructive;  and 
the  reader  is  referred  to  the  original  works,  for  there 
is  no  space  here  to  recount  their  investigations.  At 
first  the  child  cannot  fit  its  movements  to  its  sense- 
perceptions  at  all.  It  has  also  apparently  no  real 
perceptions,  but  only  a  confused  mixture  of  sensa- 
tions. Sensations  of  touch  become  associated  with 
each  other  at  first  mainly  through  movements.  Then 
come  hearing,  sight,  and  the  other  senses.  ■  The  child 
learns  to  grasp  what  he  sees  and  to  recognise  what 
he   has    seen   before.     Memory-images    remain    and 


n6  MIXD.  BRAIX.  AXI>  XEEVES 

become  associated  with  each  other,  even  with  those  of 
different  senses.  Yet  they  are  still  preserved  very 
badlv:  for  as  a  rule  a  child  of  four  or  rive  no  longer 
knows   anything   about  the   experiences   of  its   first 

year.  Perhaps  we  should  not  say  that  they  are  badly 
preserved,  for.  to  be  sine,  they  remain  and  are  used 
[in  a  practical  way]  :  but  later  mental  experiences  no 
longer  become  associated  [in  any  conscious  way] 
with  those  of  the  first  year. 

Different  children  are  very  different,  and  even  in 
the  early  years  their  hereditary  disposition,  their 
strong  points,  and  their  weaknesses,  can  be  recog- 
nised. We  cannot  go  into  the  hygiene  and  pedagog- 
ics of  childhood  here:  it  is  enough  to  point  out  that 
the  development  of  children  is  exceedingly  irregular 
and  that  the  transition  from  embryo  to  adult  goes  on 
imperceptibly  from  birth  to  the  eighteenth  or  twenti- 
eth year  with  girls  and  to  the  twenty-third  or  twenty- 
fifth  with  boys.  This  development  of  the  body 
involves  a  corresponding  development  of  the  mind 
and  of  nervous  functions  in  general:  and  our  interest 
here  is  to  trace  this  in  broad  outline. 

Up  to  the  time  of  birth  the  embryo  lies  hidden  in 
darkness,  nourished  and  growing,  but  protected  from 
the  outer  world  and  all  its  influences ;  and  although  it 
moves  a  little  its  role  is  purely  passive.  But  now  it  is 
suddenly  torn  out  of  this  repose  and  comes  into  con- 
tact with  the  world.  For  all  the  rest  of  its  life  this 
world  affects  it  unceasingly  through  its  senses  and 
sensory  nerves,  while  it  in  turn  acts  on  the  world 


EMBRYOLOGY  AND  RACE  HISTORY  117 

through  its  motor  mechanisms.  The  organ  which 
registers,  arranges,  and  combines  almost  all  the  im- 
pressions and  also  looks  after  the  reactions  is  the 
brain.  From  previous  chapters,  and  especially  from 
what  has  been  said  about  memory  in  Chapter  I.,  it  is 
clear  that  the  work  of  the  brain  with  all  its  elaborating 
of  outer  impressions,  representations  of  movement, 
and  voluntary  impulses,  involves  continual,  life-long 
reconstructions  of  one's  personality — i.e.,  of  the  brain 
itself.  The  brain  is  the  man,  sav  we.  The  immense 
receptivity  of  every  brain  to  what  goes  on  in  the  outer 
world  makes  each  very  different  from  every  other  ac- 
cording to  the  circumstances  in  which  it  is  placed, 
the  work  it  performs,  and  the  people  and  things  that 
influence  it.  It  is  here  that  the  laws  of  exercise  and 
habit  come  in. 

We  can  say  in  the  main  that  the  brain  is  strength- 
ened by  regular  exercise  in  the  same  way  as  a  muscle. 
Practice  makes  perfect.  Therefore  the  more  things 
you  practice  and  the  more  varied  they  are  the  more 
capable  is  your  brain  in  different  directions.  1  et 
this  law  should  not  be  misunderstood.  Activity  is 
exhausting  unless  there  is  time  for  nutriment  and  re- 
pose to  refresh  the  exhausted  nervous  tissue,  and  the 
products  of  katabolic  processes  are  removed.  Sleep 
is  the  brain's  repose,  and  during  sleep  the  exhausted 
neurones  are  built  up  again.  For  the  rest,  its  sub- 
stance is  built  up,  like  that  of  all  the  other  organs,  by 
digestion  and  the  circulation  of  the  blood. 

Experience  teaches  that  the  brain,  like  the  muscles, 


n8  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

is  subject  to  the  law  of  training,  according  to  which 
occasional  excessive  efforts  with  long  intervals  of 
repose  are  rather  injurious,  while  a  many-sided  ac- 
tivity consistently  repeated,  interrupted  by  sufficient 
shorter  rests  and  supported  by  a  sufficient  nutrition 
is  strengthening.  To  understand  this  law  we  must 
consider  a  few  points  which  pedagogy  has  disgrace- 
fully neglected.  A  healthy  training  of  the  brain 
must  be  as  many-sided  as  possible.  Above  all,  the 
motor  side,  the  appropriate  exercise  of  the  muscles — 
not  mere  muscular  exercises,  but  muscular  effort 
directed  to  reasonable  voluntary  ends — should  go 
hand  in  hand  with  the  training  of  the  senses  and  the 
memory.  Please  observe  that  it  makes  a  difference 
whether  one  lifts  a  weight  mechanically  a  hundred 
times  one  after  the  other,  which  exercises  nothing  but 
the  muscles  and  the  lower  brain  centres,  or  whether 
he  performs  a  useful  work,  which  requires  skill  and 
co-ordination,  and  therefore  considerable  harmonious 
activity  of  the  whole  brain.  Machine  work  which 
only  demands  a  very  narrow  and  one-sided  activity  of 
mind  or  body  is  not  favourable.  Thus  harmony  of 
brain  work  is  a  condition  of  sound  training  and  the 
best  way  to  further  a  strong  and  healthy  development 
of  the  brain. 

But  we  must  avoid  laziness  and  neglect  no  less  than 
one-sided  overexertion ;  and  we  must  beware  of  all  in- 
juries to  the  fine  and  delicate  brain  substance.  The 
worst  of  these  is  narcotic  poisoning ;  of  which  we  shall 
speak  again  when  we  come  to  Hygiene. 


EM  BR  YOLOGY  AND  RACE  HIS  TOR  Y  119 

If  we  consider  the  ontogeny  of  the  child's  brain  in 
the  light  of  the  law  of  exercise  or  training,  we  find  at 
first  a  natural  tendency  to  receive  and  elaborate  con- 
crete sense-perceptions  and  to  act  so  as  to  produce 
them.  The  child  thinks  concretely  and  thirsts  for 
concrete  knowledge.  How  could  it  understand  ab- 
stractions, when  adults  only  get  them  after  elaborat- 
ing their  ideas  for  years?  The  child's  neurones  are 
absolutely  devoid  of  the  old  associated  memory- 
images  which  such  abstractions  would  involve.  The 
result  is  that  as  soon  as  the  child  has  learned  to  speak 
and  read  and  write,  and  thus  possesses  the  instru- 
ments of  speech — the  materials  for  the  currency  of 
thought — he  immediately  begins  to  play  with  the 
instruments  themselves — with  the  concrete  word- 
images.  The  sense  or  thought  which  the  word  stands 
for  has  a  meaning  for  him  only  when  it  is  a  matter  of 
the  simple,  familiar  things  about  him,  which  he  can 
perceive  by  his  senses,  and  which  involve  little  or  no 
abstraction.  Other  words  he  learns  like  a  parrot,  as 
mere  sounds  or  written  letters.  The  pedagogue,  who 
is  too  often  a  pedant  as  well  and  compels  the  child  to 
learn  by  heart  all  sorts  of  phrases  the  meaning  of 
which  he  is  quite  unable  to  understand  is  playing  a 
horrible,  criminal  game  with  the  child's  brain.  The 
saying  that  memory  must  be  exercised  mechanically 
is  unpsychological  and  thoroughly  false.  It  culti- 
vates one  of  the  worst  peculiarities  of  men,  the  re- 
placing of  thought  by  words,  meaningless  gabble. 
This  pathological  product  of  our  culture  is  to  be 


i2o  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

found,  alas,  in  every  head,  and  is  one  of  the  evil 
effects  of  the  school  which  cannot  be  sufficiently  de- 
nounced and  combated,  but  which  is  widely  pro- 
pagated in  press  and  books. 

Well  then,  the  child  thirsts  for  concrete  knowledge 
and  this  thirst  must  be  satisfied.  We  must  carefully 
combat  all  premature  abstractions.  Abstraction 
comes  altogether  of  itself,  and  gets  built  up  in  the 
brain  in  a  proper  way  by  the  comparison  of  concrete 
images,  without  our  having  to  hasten  its  develop- 
ment. To  be  sure,  children  are  very  different.  Some 
show  an  early  inclination  to  abstract  thought,  e.  g.,  to 
mathematics,  while  others  are  inclined  to  think  much 
more  concretely  and  inductively.  But  what  of  it? 
Both  must  understand  before  they  learn,  after  they 
know  the  elements  of  speech.  What  we  have  under- 
stood sticks  in  the  memory  much  more  firmly  and 
more  usefully  than  phrases  that  we  learn  like  a  par- 
rot, and  that  too  without  special  mnemonic  aids.  We 
should  try  above  all  to  avoid  the  use  of  words  which 
are  not  yet  understood.  Unfortunately  the  teacher 
himself  does  not  understand  the  meaning  of  the  words 
that  he  uses  and  teaches. 

A  teacher  once  said  it  was  a  good  thing  that  school 
children  were  so  inattentive ;  for  otherwise  they  would 
be  ruined  by  overexertion.  In  these  winged  words 
lies  a  judgment  upon  our  whole  school  system;  for 
why  should  we  teach  what  is  not  attended  to?  They 
are  moreover  a  confession  of  our  own  incapacity;  and 
they  are  not  all  true.     What  ruins  the  children  more 


EMBRYOLOGY  AND  RACE  HISTORY  121 

than  anything  else  is  not  strained  attention  but  fear 
of  punishment,  examinations,  and  scoldings.  This 
nightmare  oppresses  them  continually,  and  spoils 
their  lives  and  the  pleasure  of  learning.  When  peo- 
ple understand,  as  they  do  in  the  country  training 
homes,1  how  to  remove  this  nightmare  and  to  preserve 
a  proper  harmony  in  mental  work,  they  need  not 
worry  about  attention;  for  the  child  does  not  get 
tired  so  soon,  and  so  long  as  it  has  plenty  of  time  for 
sleep  it  remains  good-natured  and  lively. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  add  that  all  the  higher  and 
better  qualities  of  mankind  should  be  trained  onto- 
genetically;  especially  sympathy,  the  sense  of  social 
obligation,  work  for  others,  self-reliance,  the  avoid- 
ance of  all  useless  vanities,  and  the  formation  and 
consistent  carrying  out  of  useful  resolutions. 

In  this  way,  through  proper  exercise,  the  brain  ac- 
commodates itself  to  its  human  social  environment. 
And  thus  we  can  designate  this  whole  group  of  fac- 
tors which  act  upon  the  growing  brain  as  adaptation, 
or  education.  When  we  speak  of  education  we  must 
not  forget  that  what  the  educator  has  to  say  has  least 
of  all  to  do  with  it.  The  most  effective  influences  are 
surroundings,  examples,  imitation,  and  the  activity 
of  the  child  himself.  And  we  must  add  that  one's 
education  or  adaptation  is  by  no  means  finished  when 
he  has  stopped  growing.  The  law  of  practice  holds 
to  old  age,  to  the  very  grave.  One's  whole  life 
is  a  continual  struggle  for  adaptation.     But  here  a 

1  See  Chapter  XI.,  2,  TJie  School  of  the  Future. 


122  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

peculiar  phenomenon  appears.  Many-sided  life-work 
carried  through  consistently  not  only  strengthens  the 
brain  but  also  strengthens  its  continued  power  of 
adaptation.  The  more  the  brain  works  the  more  cap- 
able it  is  of  receiving  new  impressions  and  elaborat- 
ing old  ones.  Age  in  itself  tends  to  stiffen  the  brain 
and  make  it  automatic.  An  old  man  keeps  repeat- 
ing his  old-accustomed  abstractions  and  modes  of 
thought  and  speech.  But  the  lazy  man  who  works 
as  little  as  possible  usually  gets  old  mentally  faster 
than  the  man  who  works.  The  latter  remains  more 
elastic  and  capable  of  adaptation. 

All  that  has  just  been  said  refers  to  only  one  of 
the  factors  in  ontogenetic  development.  A  second 
factor  no  less  important  is  already  contained  in  the 
two  united  germ  calls.  This  is  the  factor  of  inherit- 
ance; and  it  is  of  immense  influence.  For  to  get  a 
musician  from  germs  with  no  music  in  them  or  a  man 
of  genius  from  united  germs  with  a  bent  to  stupidity 
is  as  hard  as  to  get  a  duck  from  a  hen's  egg.  Exer- 
cise can  develop  the  germ  energy  already  present 
normally  to  its  furthest  limit  and  turn  it  to  the  most 
appropriate  use ;  but  it  has  no  magic  to  produce  what 
was  not  in  the  germ. 

Germ  energies  contain  very  different  admixtures 
of  the  characteristics  of  one's  progenitors.  Atavism 
is  the  appearance  in  any  individual  of  a  characteristic 
which  his  parents  did  not  possess,  but  one  of  his  an- 
cestors, perhaps  his  grandmother,  did.  Apparently 
in  a  case  of  this  sort  the  child  was  derived  from  one  of 


EMBRYOLOGY  AND  RACE  HISTORY  123 

the  parental  germ  cells  in  which  the  peculiarities  of 
this  particular  grandparent  are  especially  well-pre- 
served. The  calculation  of  these  puzzling  hereditary 
tendencies  is  beyond  us ;  but  their  effects  are  only  too 
plainly  visible.  Everything  gets  inherited:  imagina- 
tion, conscience,  artistic  sense,  malice,  scheming,  strong 
or  weak  passions,  as  much  as  red  or  black  hair  or  a 
crooked  nose.  But  it  is  clear  that  for  man  the  heredi- 
tary disposition  of  the  brain  is  the  most  important. 
The  lesson  is  that  in  the  generation  of  successors  there 
should  be  a  careful  selection,  the  sound  and  capable 
should  multiply,  but  not  the  sick  and  incapable  or 
abnormal;  for  all  efforts  of  education  or  adaptation 
go  to  pieces  when  the  proper  tendencies  are  lacking 
in  the  germ.  What  we  have  just  mentioned  can  be 
called  inheritance  in  the  true  sense  of  the  term.1  As 
we  shall  soon  see,  those  effects  of  the  outer  world 
which  only  influence  already  differentiated  bodily 
cells  to  an  infinitesimal  extent  and  do  not  influence 
the  germ  cells  at  all,  are  transmitted  through  mne- 
metic  engraphy  and  thereby  prepare  in  a  latent  way 
for  the  evolution  of  the  species.  Only  when  the  en- 
graphy strikes  the  germ  cell  itself  can  it  cause  more 
rapid  transformations.  That  should  be  comprehen- 
sible, but  it  has  a  way  of  being  especially  misunder- 
stood. You  could  cut  off  the  tails  of  a  given  kind  of 
animal  for  two  thousand  years  and  yet  the  descend- 
ants at  the  end  of  that  time  would  be  born  with  the 
same  old  tails.      The  rapid  and  immense  variations 

1  See  infra  Race  History. 


124  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

within  a  species  depend  upon  the  endless  mixtures 
of  germ  energies  in  the  conjunctions  of  germs,  of 
which  we  have  already  spoken.  This  is  proved  by 
gardeners  and  animal-breeders,  who  gradually  pro- 
duce new  varieties  and  breeds  of  plants  and  animals 
by  a  proper  and  continuous  selection  for  reproduction 
of  those  which  possess  peculiar  qualities  which  they 
wish  to  strengthen. 

But  between  this  pure  inheritance  and  the  adapta- 
tion previously  mentioned  there  is  an  intermediate 
kind  of  factor  influencing  the  development  of  the  in- 
dividual, which  can  be  called  disease  of  the  germ  or 
blastophthoria,  and  which  lies  midway  between  in- 
heritance and  adaptation.  Everything  which  injures 
either  the  germ  in  the  body  of  the  parents  or  the  em- 
bryo in  the  womb  disturbs  the  ontogeny  and  can  pro- 
duce mentally  or  physically  crippled  descendants  in 
spite  of  good  sound  ancestors.     For  example: 

A  healthy  pair  of  East  Indians  with  two  healthy 
children  come  into  a  European  town  and  learn  to 
drink  alcohol ;  both  become  alcoholics  and  poison  their 
reproductive  glands  with  the  drug.  Then  they  en- 
gender four  more  children  of  which  one  is  an  idiot,  the 
second  has  rickets,  the  third  is  epileptic,  and  the 
fourth  still-born.  This  is  called  an  alcoholic  heredity 
— an  artificial  poisoning  of  the  germs  of  our  descend- 
ants before  their  union,  which,  alas!  is  rife  in  our 
whole  European  society. 

Healthy  parents  have  a  healthy  child;  the  father 
infects  himself  with  syphilis;  the  spermatozoon  that 


EMBRYOLOGY  AND  RACE  HISTORY  125 

begets  the  second  child  is  syphilitic;  the  second  child 
comes  into  the  world  syphilitic,  and  comes  to  grief 
miserably. 

Two  healthy  parents  have  healthy  germ  cells, 
which  unite  and  develop  at  first  as  a  healthy  embryo. 
But  during  her  pregnancy  the  mother  contracts  ty- 
phoid fever,  and  the  child  is  weakly  or  weak-minded. 
Or  at  its  birth  the  child's  skull  is  injured,  the  brain  is 
bruised,  and  some  of  the  neurones  destroyed;  so  the 
child  grows  up  with  mental  defects  and  has  convul- 
sions or  paralysis. 

Healthy  parents  beget  a  healthy  embryo  and  it  is 
born  as  a  healthy  child.  But  in  its  second  year  the 
child  gets  a  sickness,  say  cerebral  meningitis,  or  falls 
out  of  the  window  and  has  a  cerebral  hemorrhage.  In 
either  case  the  brain  suffers  and  cannot  develop  nor- 
mally, and  the  child  becomes  weak-minded  or  mor- 
ally defective,  with  all  kinds  of  bad  qualities  which 
stick  to  him  to  the  end  of  his  days- 

Indeed  I  have  seen  a  case  where  an  excellent  young 
man  of  twenty  became  an  incorrigible  good-for- 
nothing  and  prodigal  and  indulged  in  so  many  ab- 
surdities that  he  had  to  be  put  in  the  lunatic  asylum. 
Typhoid  bacteria  had  made  such  ravages  in  his  brain 
as  to  produce  a  permanent  injury  in  his  mental 
personality. 

This  last  case  forms  a  transition  to  ordinary  men- 
tal disturbances.  I  wished  to  show  by  my  selection 
of  cases  that  in  diseases  of  the  germ  there  are  all 
the  intermediate  steps  between  inherited  peculiarities 


i26  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

and  diseases  of  the  individual.  At  the  same  time, 
these  examples  illustrate  the  whole  chain  of  ontogen- 
etic abnormalities  in  a  human  brain.  We  can  say  that 
in  so  far  as  injuries  of  the  germ,  the  embryo,  or  the 
child  affect  the  brain,  they  all  produce  more  or  less 
deep  and  lasting  arrests  of  its  mental  development. 
There  is  thus  a  pathology  of  inheritance  which  forms 
a  transition  to  the  pathology  of  the  adult  through 
that  of  the  embryo  and  the  child. 

Let  us  close  this  section  with  the  assurance  that  in 
every  moment  of  his  life  man  is  the  joint  product  of 
his  inherited  tendencies  and  the  adjustment  and  edu- 
cation or  habit  of  his  life.  "  Inheritance  '  on  the 
one  hand  and  "  habit  "  or  "  practice  "  on  the  other 
designate  two  immense  groups  of  factors  in  the  de- 
velopment of  the  brain  which  are  always  present,  and 
it  is  often  impossible  to  say  what  must  be  ascribed 
to  the  one  and  what  to  the  other.  If  a  child  lies  or 
steals,  for  example,  it  is  often  very  difficult  to  say 
how  far  it  is  a  matter  of  inheritance,  habit,  learning, 
or  autosuggestion.  A  great  deal  of  what  appears  to 
be  learned  or  acquired  really  rests  on  a  native  dis- 
position which  only  requires  a  slight  impetus  to  de- 
velop it,  such,  for  example,  as  Mozart's  musical 
genius  in  early  childhood.  To  judge  aright  we 
must  constantly  think  of  both  acquirement  and  nat- 
ive tendency.  In  the  diseases  of  the  germ  equip- 
ment (Keimanlage)  we  thus  find  a  link  between 
inherited  tendencies  and  influences  which  come  from 
without  during  one's  lifetime. 


EMBRYOLOGY  AND  RACE  HISTORY  127 

We  cannot  make  any  greater  mistake  than  to  set 
up  an  artificial  opposition  between  these  two  great 
sets  of  influence  which  mould  the  ego.  It  is  a  mis- 
take to  expect  everything  from  education,  and  an- 
other to  regard  everything  as  predestined  and  fated 
by  inheritance.  Any  one  who  brings  forward  only 
one  set  of  these  factors  in  some  learned  theory  only 
displays  his  own  ignorance  or  bad  judgment.  We 
do  not  need  to  be  learned  to  recognise  both  sets  of 
factors;  for  they  are  seen  by  every  thinking  man. 

(2)     Mace  History  or  Phylogeny.     Darwinism. 

Phylogeny  means  the  history  of  the  class  or  family. 
The  term  was  introduced  by  Haeckel,  and  is  based 
on  Darwin's  theory  of  descent.  It  is  now  well-estab- 
lished that  different  species  of  animals  and  plants 
have  a  common  origin,  and  were  gradually  trans- 
formed in  the  course  of  many  generations.  Phylo- 
geny seeks  to  ascertain  the  characteristics  of  the 
common  ancestors  of  species  and  groups  of  species 
now  living.  To  be  sure  there  is  still  a  dispute  as  to 
how  much  importance  we  shall  attach  to  natural 
selection  as  a  cause  of  the  transformation  of  species; 
for  this  involves  other  factors  too.  But  the  geo- 
graphical distribution  of  plants  and  animals,  com- 
parative anatomy  and  ontogeny,  and  the  study  of 
fossils  no  longer  leave  any  doubt  as  to  their  com- 
mon descent.  Palaeontology  has  brought  to  light, 
amongst  other  things,  remains  of  primitive  men 
(Neanderthal  and  Spy  skulls)  who  had  a  considerably 


128  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

smaller  skull  than  the  men  of  to-day.  Moreover 
Dubois  has  found  the  fossil  remains  of  a  being 
(pithecanthropus  erectus)  that  apparently  lies 
exactly  midway  between  man  and  the  anthropoid  apes 
orang-outang,  chimpanzee,  gorilla,  etc.).  Thus  we 
may  well  say  it  is  settled  that  man  is  descended  from 
a  kind  of  being  which  was  itself  descended  from  lower 
apes,  and  this  in  turn  from  creatures  something  like 
a  bat.  The  further  phylogeny  of  animal  forms  has 
no  interest  for  us  here;  but  that  of  the  human  brain 
has.  That  the  development  of  the  brain  is  on  the 
whole  parallel  with  that  of  intelligence  can  be  inferred 
from  the  size  of  skull  cavities.  The  upper  brain 
cavity  of  the  pithecanthropus  contains  570  cubic  cen- 
timetres, that  of  a  large  orang-outang  something 
more  than  half  of  this,  that  of  the  Neanderthal  skull 
920,  that  of  a  contemporary  man  (not  counting  the 
space  occupied  by  the  cerebellum)  about  1000  to 
1200. 

Much  has  been  said  in  previous  chapters  which 
agrees  with  this  phylogeny. 

What  we  are  about  to  say  is  important  for  the  hy- 
giene of  the  nerves.  We  have  seen  that  our  brain 
possesses  lower  centres  which,  like  the  spinal  cord, 
are  relatively  further  developed  with  the  lower  ani- 
mals than  with  man,  and  which  indeed  with  the  low- 
est outweigh  the  cerebrum.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
they  are  the  organs  of  our  lower  animal  impulses 
and  instincts.  With  reference  to  these  we  can  well 
be  compared  with  other  mammals.      What   distin- 


EMBRYOLOGY  AND  RACE  HISTORY  129 

guishes  man  the  most  is  the  enormous  development 
of  the  cerebrum,  which  exercises  much  more  control 
over  the  automatisms  than  in  any  other  animal.  Yet 
with  the  higher  vertebrates  also  the  cerebrum  plays 
a  great  part,  as  we  can  see  from  Goltz's  dogs  and  the 
brainless  pigeons  already  discussed.  Now  it  is  im- 
portant for  the  hygiene  of  our  brain  to  find  out  the 
mode  of  life  of  our  nearer  human  ancestors  the  relics 
of  whose  culture  are  given  by  ethnological  discover- 
ies. From  these  as  well  as  from  history  we  learn  that 
primitive  man,  like  the  savages  of  our  own  time, 
lived  in  small  communities  which  were  at  constant 
warfare  with  each  other,  with  horrible  bloody  heca- 
tombs, revealed  to  us  by  murderous  weapons  and 
broken  bones.  So  we  may  well  say  that  for  thous- 
ands if  not  for  millions  of  years  human  nature  has 
been  adapted  to  the  hardest  fights,  to  muscular  exer- 
cise, work,  and  agility.  The  battle  of  the  strong 
was  won  more  and  more  by  intelligence;  and  from 
this  we  can  explain  the  enormous  growth  of  the  cere- 
brum. Verbal  speech  of  course  grew  up  at  first  very 
slowly  and,  so  long  as  it  permitted  of  nothing  better 
than  verbal  tradition,  it  did  not  permit  of  any  far- 
reaching  culture.  Only  the  implements  of  culture — 
pictures  and  writing — could  make  it  possible  for  de- 
scendants to  gain  permanent  benefit  from  the  experi- 
ence of  their  ancestors  and  to  advance  upon  it. 
Writing  and  printing  at  last  became  the  main  im- 
plements of  civilisation  and  made  possible  its  perfec- 
tion  without   a   corresponding   enlargement    of   the 


ISO  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

brain;  for  with  the  knowledge  and  experience  of  one 
generation  stored  up  in  books  the  next  could  add 
something  to  it  without  such  great  demands  upon 
their  mental  powers.  Schopenhauer  calls  books  the 
paper  memory  of  mankind.  Our  brains  to-day  may 
not  be  any  larger  than  those  of  our  ancestors  three  or 
four  thousand  years  ago,  but  schools  and  libraries  en- 
able us  to  do  a  hundred  times  more  with  them. 

The  products  of  human  culture  have  reacted  on 
mankind  to  bring  people  nearer  together,  so  that  the 
original  small  communities  have  gradually  given  way 
to  little  kingdoms,  then  larger  kingdoms,  then  em- 
pires, and  finally  world-empires.  Commerce  has  led 
to  connections  and  intermixtures  between  different 
races  and  nations.  The  nature  of  war  has  been 
totally  changed,  and  it  is  no  longer  the  favourable 
selective  agency  that  it  once  was. 

From  this  we  can  easily  see  how  primitive  man  in 
spite  of  his  few  and  limited  social  instincts  and  his 
abundant  instincts  of  the  beast  of  prey  could  be  com- 
pelled in  a  short  time  to  set  limits  to  his  narrow- 
hearted  conflicts  of  clan  and  nation  and  race,  and  not 
only  deepen  but  broaden  his  social  feelings.  This 
situation  has  produced  a  growing  discord  between 
our  inherited  wild-beast  instincts  and  our  present 
social  needs;  and  in  this  discord  we  find  the  root  of 
our  present  social  struggles. 

The  lust  of  fight  and  strife,  greed  and  envy,  are 
thus  phylogenetic  peculiarities  which  our  germ  plasm 
has  inherited  from  primitive  human  ancestors,  and 


EMBRYOLOGY  AND  RACE  HISTORY  131 

they  cannot  be  abolished  by  theoretical  analyses  or 
phrases  and  dogmas.  Only  a  plucky  diversion  of 
such  impulses  into  useful  social  work  and  a  proper 
selection  of  the  stock  can  help,  and  that  too  very 
gradually.  But  such  help  is  indispensable,  for  cul- 
ture cannot  be  permitted  to  go  backward,  and  man 
must  adapt  himself  to  a  general  peace  and  yet  avoid 
the  degeneration  which  would  be  the  inevitable  result 
of  inactivity. 

Knowledge  of  the  phylogenetic  facts  here  briefly 
outlined  is  of  great  importance  for  the  hygiene  of 
the  brain. 

Some  interesting  and  lasting  suggestions  are  to  be 
gained  from  the  highly  developed  social  communi- 
ties of  certain  lower  animals,  such  as  bees  and  ants. 
Far  as  these  creatures  are  removed  from  us  in  bodily 
organisation,  it  is  surprising  to  find  that  their  highly 
developed  automatic  cerebral  activity  has  produced 
phenomena  so  similar  to  our  own  social  relations  that 
we  give  them  the  same  names;  wars  and  alliances, 
slavery  and  cattle-breeding,  and  the  fungus  garden- 
ing of  many  ants.  Such  phenomena  converge  with 
others  in  pointing  to  the  existence  of  general  natural 
laws  of  society  for  living  beings.  They  are  only 
analogies,  to  be  sure;  but  they  can  be  used  for  the 
discovery  of  deeper  common  causes. 

Phylogenetically,  as  we  have  seen,  the  cerebrum 
is  developed  from  the  smell  centres  of  lower  verte- 
brates. A  consistent  adaptation  of  sense-organs  to 
the  conditions  of  life?  and  of  nerve  centres  to  sense- 


132  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

organs  and  movement,  can  be  inferred  from  com- 
parative anatomy  and  biology;  and  what  we  learn 
about  it  there  sheds  a  wonderful  light  over  the  whole 
primitive  history  of  the  living  world  for  those  who 
take  the  trouble  to  dive  deep  into  contemporary 
zoology  and  botany.  He  who  does  not  disdain  to 
make  a  special  study  from  his  youth  of  any  small 
branch  of  these  sciences,  if  only  for  pleasure  and  re- 
creation, will  gain  an  insight  into  the  natural  laws  of 
life  which  to  others  will  always  remain  closed.  But 
he  should  study  not  only  the  classifications  but  the 
anatomy,  biology,  and  geography  of  those  living 
forms  which  he  has  chosen  as  a  specialty.  Yet  here 
is  an  important  question.  The  name  Darwin  is 
nowadays  in  every  mouth.  By  explaining  the  trans- 
formation or  evolution  of  species  through  "  natural 
selection  "  and  the  "  struggle  for  existence  "  between 
different  animals  and  plants,  this  great  scholar  intro- 
duced the  theory  of  evolution  into  science  and  gave 
an  unprecedented  impetus  to  natural  history.  That 
through  the  artificial  selection  and  pairing  of  the  pos- 
sessors of  certain  peculiarities  these  peculiarities  can 
be  made  to  increase  more  and  more  in  the  descend- 
ants stands  absolutely  established.  This  is  proved 
by  the  varieties  and  stocks  of  plants  and  animals  pro- 
duced by  artificial  breeding.  And  it  is  no  less  well  es- 
tablished, as  any  one  can  see  who  keeps  his  eyes  open, 
that  in  unrestrained  nature  animals  and  plants  are 
engaged  in  a  constant  desperate  struggle,  consuming 
and  effacing  each  other,  and  that  thus  the  stronger 


EMBRYOLOGY  ÄND  RACE  HISTORY  133 

or  more  cunning,  or  more  nimble  or  dogged  or  pro- 
lific gain  the  upper  hand,  often  merely  through  a 
slight  peculiarity  that  happens  to  be  especially  ad- 
vantageous. That  is  the  struggle  for  existence,  and 
it  produces  a  natural  assortment  or  selection  of  pow- 
ers of  resistance.  These  are  incontestable  facts,  and 
to  me  it  is  simply  inconceivable  that  in  modern  times 
any  tendency  which  amounts  almost  to  a  denial  of  it 
can  succeed.1  But,  on  the  other  hand,  the  investiga- 
tions of  the  last  decades  have  indisputably  proved  that 
in  the  production  of  species,  or  transformation  of 
forms,  a  part  is  played  by  still  other  factors,  which 
are  very  different,  such  as  warmth,  cold,  and  the 
chemical  constitution  of  foods ;  they  have  proved  that 
evolution  does  not  always  proceed  uniformly,  but 
now  moves  quickly,  now  slowly,  and  again  often 
stands  still  for  a  long  while;  and  they  have  proved 
that  still  other  deep  inward  factors,  of  which  we  know 
nothing  at  present,  must  co-operate  in  the  variation 
and  creation  of  species.  I  refer  the  reader  here  only 
to  the  theory  of  mutation  of  the  botanist  de  Vries.2 

»See  Piepers:  "Mimicry,  Selektion,  Darwinismus;''''  Fleischmann, 
and  others. 

2  According  to  de  Vries,  variations  of  this  sort  which  occasionally  arise 
suddenly  from  within  are  what  produce  new  species,  while  bastardising, 
or  crossing,  and  selection  through  various  kinds  of  unfolding  of  germ- 
powers  already  present  only  produce  varieties  and  breeds  which  develop 
nothing  fundamentally  new  and  continually  return  to  the  type  of  the 
species.  If  the  reader  will  compare  the  phenomena  of  engraphy  (see 
below)  with  this  he  will  understand  that  in  this  case,  as  in  many  others, 
there  is  no  opposition,  but  only  a  combination,  of  factors.  In  Chapter 
VIII.  in  connection  with  the  term  Blastophthory  we  shall  see  how  certain 
poisonings  of  the  germ  plasm  tend  to  be  inherited.     And  in  the  same 


134  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

From  this  a  gross  but  common  sophism,  against 
which  too  much  warning  cannot  be  given,  has  arisen 
and  become  a  sort  of  shibboleth.  It  rests  upon  a 
falsification  of  the  conception  "  Darwinism."  Under 
this  term  two  conceptions  are  intentionally  or  unin- 
tentionally confused.  (A)  The  fact,  now  uncondi- 
tionally proved^  of  the  transformation  or  evolution  of 
species,  which  are  thus  ancestrally  related;  and  (B) 
Darwin  s  special  hypothesis  that  this  transformation 
has  taken  place  exclusively  or  almost  exclusively 
through  natural  selection. 

All  enemies  of  science  and  worshippers  of  mys- 
ticism rush  into  this  misunderstanding  and  use  it  to 
persuade  those  who  are  incapable  of  judging  that  A 
itself  is  incorrect,  saying,  "  Darwinism  is  no  longer 
accepted,"  "  has  shown  itself  false,"  etc.  Of  course 
the  only  truth  in  this  is  that  hypothesis  B  no  longer 
suffices  for  the  explanation  of  A. 

Now  in  the  very  latest  times  there  has  come  a  ray 
of  light,  to  which  we  must  devote  a  few  words.     Pro- 
ceeding from  Ewald  Hering's  ingenious   idea  that 
'  instinct  is,  so  to  speak,  a  race  memory,"  Richard 

way  the  chemical  constitution  of  the  germ  tends  to  be  transformed  by 
warmth,  cold,  light,  and  the  chemical  constitution  of  the  water  or  air 
(Standfuss).  If  the  transformation  or  reconstitution  of  the  species  is 
favourable  for  the  perpetuation  of  the  stock  in  the  struggle  for  existence, 
it  increases ;  if  it  is  more  or  less  indifferent  it  can  at  least  continue  to 
exist ;  but  if  it  is  directly  hurtful  it  is  wiped  out.  Against  this  simple 
fact  no  theory  can  hold  out,  however  much  the  newest  fashion  may  agi- 
tate against  selection.  And  the  intensity  of  the  struggle  for  existence 
can  be  shown  to-day  in  the  annihilation  of  interesting  island  animals, 
often  of  whole  species  of  them,  by  stronger  continental  species  that  are 
carried  there  on  ships. 


EMBRYOLOGY  AND  RACE  HISTORY  135 

Semon  1  gives  a  convincing  proof  that  here  it  is  not 
a  matter  of  mere  analogy  but  of  a  deeper  identity  in 
the  organic  process.  In  order  to  escape  physiologi- 
cal terminology,  he  invents  new  terms  for  the  general 
notions  attained,  which  he  bases  on  a  careful  defini- 
tion of  the  conception  "  stimulus." 

By  stimulus  he  means  an  "  energetic "  influence 
upon  the  organism  from  its  condition  or  constitution 
(Beschaffenheit)  which  calls  forth  a  series  of  com- 
plicated alterations  in  the  stimulable  or  "  irritable  " 
substance  of  the  living  organism.  The  altered  con- 
dition of  the  organism  (which  lasts  as  long  as  the 
stimulus)  he  calls  a  "  condition  of  excitation."  Be- 
fore the  action  of  the  stimulus  the  organism  (so  far 
as  this  stimulus  is  concerned)  is  in  a  primary ,  after- 
wards in  a  secondary,  condition  of  indifference. 

If  now,  after  the  stimulus  has  ceased  to  act,  the 
irritable  substance  of  the  living  organism  shows  it- 
self permanently  altered  into  the  secondary  state  of 
indifference,  Semon  speaks  of  an  en  graphic  action. 
The  alteration  itself  he  calls  an  engram.  The  sum 
of  both  inherited  and  individually  attained  engrams 
is  what  he  means  by  his  <c  Mnema?3  By  ecphory  he 
means  the  recall  of  the  whole  condition  of  stimula- 
tion, which  had  been  produced  in  the  organism  by  a 
set  of  simultaneous  stimuli,  by  a  part  only  of  these 
stimuli  or  by  all  of  them  in  a  weaker  form.  This  ex- 
pression corresponds  to  what  we  know  psychologic- 

1  ' '  Die  Mneme  als  erhaltendes  Prinzip  im  Wechsel  des  organischen 
Geschehens.^    Wilhelm  Engelmann,  pub.,  Leipzig,  1904, 


136  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

ally  or  introspectively  as  association  and  memory. 
In  this  way,  engrams  are  ecphorised.  In  every  pro- 
cess of  this  sort,  the  whole  mnemetic  excitation  (or 
engram  complex)  chimes  in  with  the  simultaneous 
condition  of  excitement  produced  by  the  new  stimu- 
lus; and  Semon  calls  this  harmony  of  the  two 
"  homo  phony."  If  any  incongruity  presents  itself 
between  the  new  stimulation  and  the  mnemetic  ex- 
citement harmony  tends  to  be  re-established,  intro- 
spectively by  attention,  ontogenetically  by  the  process 
of  regeneration,  and  phylogenetically  by  adaptation. 
On  the  strength  of  convincing  facts  Semon  now 
shows  that  stimulations  are  only  at  first  and  to  a 
relative  extent  localised  in  their  own  primary  sphere 
(the  region  at  which  they  entered),  but  then  radiate 
or  die  out  in  the  organism  as  a  whole,  not  merely  in 
the  nervous  system;  for  the  same  thing  takes  place 
with  plants.  In  this  way,  a  nervous  engraphy  can  at 
last  affect  the  germ  cells,  even  though  the  influence 
be  tremendously  weakened.  But  Semon  shows 
further  that  engraphic  influences  of  a  very  weak 
variety  can  become  ecphoric  after  innumerable  re- 
petitions (phylogenetically,  after  innumerable  gen- 
erations). And  so  the  possibility  of  an  exceedingly 
slow  inheritance  of  acquired  characteristics  after 
innumerable  repetitions  can  be  explained  by  the 
mnemetic  principle  without  impeaching  the  correct- 
ness of  the  facts  adduced  by  Weismann.  For  of 
course  the  influences  of  cross-breeding  and  selection 
work  ever  so  much  faster  and  more  strongly  than 


EMBRYOLOGY  AND  RACE  HISTORY  137 

individually  inherited  mnemetic  engraphies.  The 
latter  in  return  might  explain  de  Vries's  mutations. 

Semon's  consistent  elaboration  of  these  ideas  in 
morphology,  biology,  and  psychology  is  illuminat- 
ing; and  the  new  perspectives  which  it  gives  are 
magnificent.  Mnema  works  with  the  aid  of  external 
influences,  preserving  and  combining  through  en- 
graphy,  while  selection  discards  all  that  is  badly 
adapted.  The  true  building  material  of  organisms 
is  thus  afforded  by  stimulations  from  the  outer  world. 
I  admit  that  I  have  now  been  converted  by  Semon  to 
what  is  at  last  an  acceptable  idea  of  a  tremendously 
slow  inheritance  of  acquired  characteristics.  Instead 
of  several  hazy  unknowns  we  have  to  do  with  only 
one,  the  nature  of  mnemetic  engraphy. 

If  we  now  turn  back  to  A  and  B  [the  two  doctrines 
of  evolution  and  selection],  it  is  evident  that  what  was 
not  possible  to  selection  alone  must  now  have  been 
brought  about  in  time  with  the  aid  of  mnemetic  en- 
graphy. For  the  rest,  we  shall  not  know  what  we 
suppose  to  be  the  mechanical  laws  of  life  so  long  as 
we  ourselves  are  unable  to  engender  a  living  being 
from  a  lifeless  substance.  And  thus  the  mechan- 
icians should  let  their  vital  mechanics  rest  so  long 
as  they  have  no  basis  for  it,  and  the  "  Neovitalists  " 
should  spare  us  their  silly  hypotheses  (for  example, 
the  Dominants  of  Reinke),  which  are  nothing  more 
than  empty  words. 

Thus  A,  the  evolution  or  transformation  of  species, 
is  a  fact  which  stands  fast.     But  we  can  be  quite  as 


138  MIND,  BRAIN,  AND  NERVES 

certain  also  of  certain  further  facts:  C,  artificial  and 
natural  selection;  D,  the  struggle  for  existence;  and 
E,  mnemetic  engraphy;  with  the  physical  and  chem- 
ical factors  of  evolution  and  the  mutations  which 
might  arise  from  them.  From  this  it  is  evident  that 
B  does  not  explain  everything  and  must  be  accepted 
only  as  one  of  the  principal  factors  in  evolution.  But 
it  still  remains  true,  and  that  is  of  enormous  import- 
ance for  us,  that  B  is  partially  decisive,  especially  for 
varieties  and  breeds  within  a  species,  as  de  Vries  him- 
self recognises.  Artificial  selection  alone  is  enough 
to  show  this.  And  thus  we  are  certainly  in  a  posi- 
tion to  wage  a  successful  war  against  harmful  factors 
in  our  own  species  and  to  preserve  and  breed  the 
properties  which  are  useful  to  it.  To  neglect  this 
important  fact  of  which  we  can  be  sure  for  the  sake 
of  doubtful  hypotheses,  or  to  try  and  talk  it  to  death 
or  cheat  it  out  of  existence,  is  an  undertaking  ruinous 
to  society.  By  selection  in  the  human  race  we  could 
not  and  would  not  reconstruct  the  species,  and  we  do 
not  claim  to  control  all  the  factors  of  our  mental 
cerebral  development.  But  with  its  aid  we  might 
weed  out  thoroughly  bad  stocks  and  by  perpetuating 
the  good  without  the  bad  make  them  continually  bet- 
ter. This  is  quite  enough  for  us  here.  Engraphy 
works  with  us  for  future  centuries  and  must  give  us 
the  hope  of  a  broader  and  higher  structure  of  our 
cerebral  powers  for  the  very  distant  future  of  our 
race,  provided  always  that  we  do  not  destroy  this 
infinitely  slow  ant-like  work  in  short  order  by  false 
selection  and  blastophthory   (see  Chapter  VIII.) . 


PART  II 
PATHOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  LIFE 


CHAPTER  VI 

GENERAL     CONCEPTIONS     OF     MENTAL     AND     NERVOUS 

PATHOLOGY 

/~\  N  the  strength  of  an  old  dualistic  prejudice 
^-^  according  to  which  the  mind  is  regarded  as 
something  different  from  the  brain,  a  distinction  has 
been  made  between  mental  and  nervous  diseases. 
This  was  a  most  unfortunate  error,  and  even  to-day  in 
the  public  mind  the  notion  of  mental  disease  awakens 
visions  of  the  madhouse  and  the  attendant's  keys. 
Even  severe  cases  of  mental  disease  are  always  re- 
ferred to  most  naively  as  "  nervous  troubles  "  by  the 
friends  of  the  patient;  who  are  greatly  offended  if 
any  one  ever  uses  the  word  insanity.  Now  to  be  sure 
we  have  no  idea  of  maintaining  that  every  nervous 
disease  bears  the  character  of  a  mental  disease  in  the 
peculiar  sense  of  the  word.  Yet  the  preceding 
chapters  must  have  made  it  clear  to  every  one  that 
every  disturbance  of  the  central  nervous  system 
(even  disturbances  of  the  eye  or  the  ear)  involves 
mental  functions;  though  only  a  general  disturbance 
of  the  cerebral  activity  is  able  to  seriously  affect  the 
personality,  the  ego,  as  a  whole.  But  the  converse  is 
absolutely  true :  Every  mental  disturbance  rests  upon 

141 


142         PA  TBOLOG  Y  OF  THE  NERVOUS  LIFE 

a  disturbance  of  cerebral  function.  Whether  this 
disturbance  is  serious  enough  to  affect  the  man's  re- 
sponsibility in  a  legal  sense,  and  his  own  interests  and 
the  interests  of  society  demand  his  confinement  in  an 
asylum,  is  a  question  of  purely  administrative  utility 
and  has  absolutely  nothing  to  do  with  the  purely 
scientific  conception  of  mental  and  nervous  disease. 
Very  many  people  mentally  affected  are  at  large  and 
do  not  require  to  be  confined. 

It  should  be  clear  also  from  the  first  five  chapters 
that  diseases  which  affect  only  the  peripheral  ganglia 
are  scarcely  regarded  by  the  public  as  nervous  dis- 
eases at  all ;  for  at  most  they  cause  only  a  very  limited 
pain  or  motor  disturbance.  Lepers  suffer  from 
swellings  of  the  peripheral  nerves,  but  because  the 
nerves  are  peripheral  their  disease  is  not  classed  as 
nervous  but  as  infectious.  Zoster  is  an  inflammation 
of  a  peripheral  nerve  and  causes  pain  and  blisters.  It 
was  long  regarded  as  a  skin  disease  before  it  was 
known  that  it  resulted  from  nervous  inflammation. 
Diseases  of  the  retina  are  typical  diseases  of  a  sen- 
sory nerve,  but  they  are  classed  with  eye  diseases,  not 
with  nervous  diseases;  and  so  it  goes.  When  people 
speak  of  nervous  diseases  every  one  of  the  peripheral 
nerves  is  almost  always  absolutely  healthy.  The 
name  is  therefore  fundamentally  wrong.  The  most 
common  so-called  nervous  diseases  really  rest  on  dis- 
turbances of  the  cerebrum,  and  only  a  few  definite 
sorts  on  disturbances  of  the  spinal  cord  or  subordin- 
ate cerebral  centres.     In  these  latter  cases,  of  course, 


GENERAL  CONCEPTIONS  143 

when  the  cerebrum  is  unaffected  the  mental  functions 
remain  completely  normal.  So-called  "  nervous- 
ness "  and  all  that  is  known  to-day  under  the  general 
term  "  Neurasthenia  "  is  an  exclusively  cerebral  dis- 
turbance and  far  more  closely  related  to  mental  dis- 
turbances than  to  diseases  of  nerve-centres  outside 
of  the  cerebrum. 

But  all  disturbances  of  the  cerebrum  are  reflected 
in  the  functions  of  the  senses  and  the  muscles ;  for  we 
have  seen  that  the  functions  of  the  senses  are  not 
known  to  us  until  they  have  been  carried  over  into  the 
cerebrum  and  that  the  principal  functions  of  our 
muscles  are  directly  controlled  by  the  cerebrum.  The 
error  and  confusion  in  our  conceptions  arise  from 
the  fact  that  the  cerebrum  projects  its  impressions 
and  perceptions  outward  to  or  beyond  the  surface  of 
the  body  (see  the  case  of  amputations,  already  re- 
ferred to),  and  that  we  infer  the  cerebral  activities  of 
others  from  their  muscular  movements.  So  people 
came  everywhere,  with  themselves  as  well  as  with 
others,  to  locate  in  the  periphery  of  the  body  what 
belongs  essentially  to  the  brain.  Yet  on  the  other 
hand,  since  the  brain  receives  its  impressions  through 
the  sensory  nerves  and  issues  its  commands  through 
the  muscles,  every  distinction  of  diseases  of  the  nerv- 
ous system  into  those  of  brain,  spinal  cord,  and  peri- 
pheral nerves  is  more  or  less  artificial  and  arbitrary. 
We  shall  therefore  neglect  the  distinction  as  far  as 
possible.  Local  destructions  and  disturbances  take 
place,   no  doubt,   in  the  nervous   system;  but  their 


144         PATHOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  LIFE 

effect  spreads  over  the  whole  nervous  structure  func- 
tionally united  with  the  part  destroyed  or  disturbed. 

The  nature  of  the  disturbance  is  a  much  more 
important  thing  to  investigate.  It  is  not  indifferent 
whether  one  has  to  deal  with  a  destruction  of  neu- 
rones or  only  with  a  disturbance  in  the  current  (or 
wave  motion)  of  the  neurokym  in  otherwise  undam- 
aged nervous  substance.  Further,  it  is  highly  im- 
portant to  find  out  whether  a  given  disturbance  is 
merely  temporary  or  permanent.  Then,  too,  certain 
ascertainable  causes  of  nervous  disturbances  are  of 
great  significance,  such  as  poisoning  or  bacterial  in- 
fection; and,  finally,  it  is  a  most  momentous  question 
whether  the  trouble  was  present  in  the  embryological 
life,  in  the  germ,  or  even  in  the  ancestors.  Thus  we 
shall  not  attempt  to  present  our  sketch  of  nervous 
diseases  according  to  any  definite  system,  but  to  give 
the  most  important  actual  occurrences.  It  is  really 
amusing  to  see  in  many  text-books  of  mental  diseases 
on  the  one  side  and  of  nervous  diseases  on  the  other 
to  what  a  great  extent  the  very  same  conditions  and 
troubles  are  treated  from  the  more  or  less  different 
standpoints  of  the  authors.  If  they  would  only  say 
why  they  regard  one  and  the  same  disease  now  as 
mental  and  now  as  nervous! 

By  organic  pathological  changes  we  mean  those 
which  are  associated  with  a  disturbance  which  is 
demonstrable  anatomically,  or  at  least  with  a  visible 
disease  of  the  nervous  tissue.  This  destruction  or  dis- 
turbance can  be  local,  affecting  only  a  limited  area  of 


GENERAL  CONCEPTIONS  145 

the  brain,  of  the  spinal  cord,  or  of  a  nerve ;  or  it  can  be 
diffuse.  In  diffuse  diseases,  single  neurones  or  parts 
of  neurones  here  and  there  in  the  nervous  tissue  are 
diseased  or  shrivelled  throughout  the  whole  extent  of 
the  nervous  system  or  at  least  in  large  portions  of  it. 
Diffuse  diseases  are  on  the  whole  much  more  serious 
than  local,  though  not  so  easy  to  demonstrate  in  an 
autopsy.  This  is  not  difficult  to  understand,  for  they 
cause  more  or  less  disturbance  in  the  functions  of  all 
neurones,  while  with  a  circumscribed  local  lesion  the 
whole  of  the  rest  of  the  nervous  system  can  function 
normally.  We  saw  above  that  neurones  once  de- 
stroyed can  never  be  restored.  That  is  why  all 
organic  nervous  troubles  are  so  serious  and  generally 
incurable.  They  are  only  curable  when  they  are  the 
result  of  transitory  bacterial  infections,  inflammatory 
exudations,  or  the  like,  which  drag  or  press  upon  the 
neurones  for  a  short  time  but  do  not  destroy  them. 
Yet  sometimes  they  are  curable  to  some  extent,  be- 
cause many  of  their  symptoms  are  due  to  tensions  or 
pressures  which  they  produce  at  first  in  surrounding 
parts  of  the  brain,  but  which  may  afterwards  subside, 
and  still  others,  such  as  paralyses  or  lamenesses,  may 
be  due  to  autosuggestion. 

By  functional  disturbances  we  mean  those  which 
do  not  rest  upon  any  perceptible  anatomical  changes, 
i.  e.,  those  whose  material  foundations  in  the  central 
nervous  system  we  cannot  recognise  at  all  anatomic- 
ally. It  is  a  doubtful  expression,  for  it  is  clear  that 
no  functional  disturbance  could  take  place  without  at 


146         PATHOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  LIFE 

least  a  molecular  disturbance  in  the  neurokym,  and 
this  in  turn  is  not  conceivable  without  some  change  in 
at  least  the  chemical  action  of  the  living  nervous  sub- 
stance. And  so  perhaps  it  would  be  better  to  say 
"  curable  ':  instead  of  "  functional,"  or,  better  still, 
to  speak  directly  of  disturbance  of  the  neuro- 
kym; which  implies  that  the  nervous  tissue  is 
intact. 

The  matter  is  further  complicated  by  the  fact  that 
many  nervous  diseases  which  must  be  regarded  at 
first  as  functional  become  after  a  time  organic — that 
is  to  say,  they  produce  permanent,  though  perhaps 
slight  symptoms  of  shrinking  in  the  nervous  ele- 
ments. And  that  raises  a  question  which  is  for  the 
most  part  still  unsolved:  Was  the  long-continued 
functional  disturbance  the  cause  of  the  final  degen- 
eration, or  was  there  not  from  the  very  first  an  ex- 
ceedingly fine  anatomical  alteration  of  the  nervous 
tissue  which  is  not  to  be  detected  even  under  the 
microscope  and  only  becomes  recognisable  after  it  has 
lasted  a  long  time  and  produced  a  noticeable  shrink- 
ing? The  latter  view  would  appear  to  be  decidedly 
correct  if  it  were  not  for  the  unexpected  cures  that 
often  take  place,  even  after  many  years,  and  thus 
make  the  other  in  turn  more  plausible.  We  must 
look  for  light  to  the  future.  In  what  follows  we  shall 
adhere  for  the  sake  of  brevity  to  the  terms  ''  func- 
tional "  and  "  organic  "  in  the  senses  just  explained, 
but  request  the  reader  to  constantly  bear  in  mind  what 
we  have  said  about  them. 


GENERAL  CONCEPTIONS  147 

Disturbances  of  Sensation.  Every  kind  of  sensa- 
tion can  be  disturbed  in  any  of  three  ways : 

(a)  The  sensory  reaction  is  diminished,  perhaps  to 
the  point  where  it  is  lacking  altogether.  This  is  sub- 
sensitiveness,  or  hypoesthesia  or,  in  the  extreme  case, 
insensibility  or  anaesthesia. 

( b )  The  sensory  reaction  to  a  stimulus  is  exagger- 
ated or  the  sensation  arises  without  any  peripheral 
stimulation  at  all.  This  is  hyperesthesia  or  super- 
sensitiveness,  amounting  in  the  extreme  case  to  ele- 
mentary hallucination. 

(c)  Parcesthesia  or  abnormal  sensibility,  where 
strange,  unusual,  pathological  sensations  arise. 

These  phenomena  may  take  place  in  the  sphere  of 
any  sense  and  rest  on  either  organic  or  functional 
disturbances.  For  example,  the  patient  can  no 
longer  feel  even  the  prick  of  a  pin.  This  is  an  anaes- 
thesia of  the  skin.  A  slight  sound  is  felt  strongly 
and  painfully.  This  is  auditory  hyperesthesia.  One 
feels  ants  crawling  over  one  of  his  limbs  or  it  goes 
:'  asleep  '  (tactual  paresthesia )  ;  or  his  ears  ring 
(auditory  paresthesia) .  Pains  of  all  sorts  without 
corresponding  organic  causes  belong  to  the  sphere 
of  hyperesthesia.  Ringing  in  the  ears  and  seeing 
flashes  of  light  can  be  classed  as  elementary  hallucina- 
tions when  they  have  no  outward  exciting  cause. 
Yet  the  distinction  is  more  theoretical  than  practical, 
for  peripheral  stimuli  cannot  usually  be  pointed  out 
in  cases  of  paresthesia. 

Disturbances  of  Perception,  or  Hallucinations  and 


148        PATHOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  LIFE 

Illusions.  These  are  best  called,  with  Kraepelin, 
false  perceptions  (Trugwahrnehmungen).  If  the 
patient  sees,  hears,  or  feels  things  when  in  reality  no 
corresponding  stimuli  have  affected  his  eyes,  ears,  or 
skin  this  is  called  hallucination  ( for  example,  when  he 
hears  the  voice  of  an  acquaintance  who  has  not  spoken 
or  is  not  there  at  all) .  By  negative  hallucinations,  on 
the  other  hand,  we  mean  the  disappearance  of  the 
sensation  though  the  stimuli  really  do  affect  the 
sense-organs.  When  I  fail  to  see  the  man  who  stands 
before  me  in  full  daylight,  though  my  eyes  are  sound 
and  open,  I  hallucinise  him  (as  the  Germans  say) 
negatively  or  hallucinise  him  away.  This  can  be  very 
prettily  demonstrated  in  hypotism.  By  illusion, 
positive  or  negative,  we  mean  an  incomplete  hallu- 
cination, in  which,  for  example,  one  sees  some  friend 
with  a  black  face,  fiery  eyes,  and  horns  on  his  head, 
when  the  friend  is  really  there,  but  the  diabolical  ac- 
cessories are  not.  A  mentally  diseased  person  once 
had  a  negative  illusion  and  saw  the  muskets  of  a  com- 
pany of  soldiers  suddenly  disappear.  Many  are  the 
illusions  of  hearing,  in  which,  for  example,  one  hears 
human  voices  in  the  rustling  of  the  leaves  or  the  song 
of  birds. 

By  reflex  false  perceptions  we  mean  false  percep- 
tions of  one  sense  which  are  called  forth  by  normal 
perceptions  of  another.  Thus  one  of  my  patients 
always  felt  blows  from  a  stick  when  some  one  rattled 
the  key  in  the  door. 

One   can   also   have   hallucinations   of   movement, 


GENERAL  CONCEPTIONS  149 

and  perceive,  for  example,  movements  of  his  own 
body  which  have  not  taken  place  at  all.  Those  senses 
which  do  not  form  any  sharp  space  and  time  associa- 
tions (smell,  taste,  and  the  visceral  feelings)  cannot 
call  forth  any  genuine  false  perceptions,  but  only 
paresthesias  and  elementary  hallucinations.  But 
these  very  visceral  feelings  give  occasion  for  those 
whimsical  cases  in  which  patients  declare  that  they 
feel  all  sorts  of  wonderful  things  in  their  heads  or 
bodies,  because  they  wrongly  interpret  their  vague 
paresthesias. 

Delusions,  and  Deceptions  of  Memory.  An  insane 
delusion  {Wahn)  is  in  itself  a  diseased  judgment, 
but  it  is  generally  also  associated  with  patho- 
logical voices,  paresthesias,  false  perceptions,  and 
the  like.  The  distinguishing  feature  of  an  insane 
delusion  is  its  incorrigibility;  by  that  it  is  distin- 
guished from  normal  error,  but  not  always  sharply 
distinguished  from  superstition.  It  is  caused  by 
deep  pathological  disturbances  of  cerebral  functions, 
which  more  or  less  alter  the  foundation  of  the  ego  or 
spiritual  personality.  A  patient  sees  the  photograph 
of  the  Emperor  of  Germany.  Suddenly  it  is  clear 
to  him  that  this  is  his  father,  and  now  he  believes  that 
he  is  crown  prince.  From  his  intuitive,  wholly  inner 
prompting  no  reason  can  dissuade  him,  and  he  goes 
to  Berlin  to  see  his  father,  the  Kaiser.  That  is  a  de- 
lusion. A  person  who  is  mentally  sound  has  a  vision 
(i.  e.,  a  visual  hallucination),  but  he  stands  up  and 
convinces  himself  that  it  is  a  deception  and  thinks  to 


i5o         PATHOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  LIFE 

himself  that  his  nervous  system  is  excited.  He  cor- 
rects the  matter.  But  if  he  is  mentally  ailing  he  be- 
lieves in  the  reality  of  his  vision  and  explains  it  by 
some  false  idea,  which  becomes  a  fixed  belief.  Yet 
delusions  can  also  arise  through  mysticism,  spiritual- 
ism, and  superstition,  and  from  many  kinds  of  sug- 
gestion without  the  presence  of  any  cerebral  disease. 
So  that  whether  a  delusion  {Wahnglaube)  is  diseased 
or  not  must  depend  upon  the  other  symptoms  and 
above  all  upon  the  cause  which  aroused  it. 

Imperative  Ideas  (fremdartige  Zwangseingeb- 
ung) .  Patients  often  explain  that  they  are  sud- 
denly overpowered  by  some  thought  which  they 
ascribe  to  a  foreign  supernatural  power,  and  which 
then  generally  becomes  the  beginning  of  a  systema- 
tised  delusion.  Such  a  one  said  to  me  that  certain 
words  had  been  smashed  into  his  head  (not  through 
his  hearing). 

By  a  false  recollection  (Erinnerungsfälschung) 
we  mean  the  recollection  of  something  which  one 
never  experienced.  It  is  a  kind  of  hallucination  of 
memory.  Whole  chains  of  events  which  the  brain 
creates  at  that  very  moment  are  imagined  as  past  ex- 
periences, and  the  patient  swears  with  the  deepest 
conviction  that  he  has  been  all  through  this  or  that; 
and  not  a  single  syllable  is  true.  If  what  the  patient 
imagines  is  a  complete  invention,  we  call  it  an  hal- 
lucination of  memory  (Erinnerungsfälschung)  ;  if 
purely  imaginary  accessories  are  added  to  what  act- 
ually took  place,  the  error  is  called  an  illusion  of 


GENERAL  CONCEPTIONS  151 

memory  (Erinnerungsverfälschung) ,  according  to 
Kraepelin.  The  false  conviction  that  some  present 
experience  is  the  exact  repetition  of  something  that 
took  place  once  before  is  called  a  case  of  paramnesia 
(Erinnerungstäuschung) .  Hallucinations  of  mem- 
ory are  much  more  numerous  than  we  generally  sup- 
pose, and  play  a  large  part  in  the  delusions  of  the 
insane.  But  they  are  also  commoner  than  we  suppose 
with  the  sane;  and  this  is  still  more  true  of  illusions 
of  memory.  The  sound  man,  however,  can  correct 
them;  the  unsound  usually  not.  Yet  the  sound  man 
often  has  a  way  of  regarding  other  people's  illusions 
and  hallucinations  of  memory  as  lies,  while  he  over- 
looks his  own. 

Disturbances  in  the  flow  of  ideas  (Gedanken- 
ablauf) are  also  important.  The  retardation  or  total 
inhibition  of  thought  we  find  especially  in  melan- 
cholia, and  the  hastening  of  thought  or  a  rush  of  ideas 
in  mania.  The  former  is  associated  with  a  general 
inhibition  of  brain  action;  the  latter  with  its  general 
stimulation. 

Disturbances  in  the  association  of  ideas  are  ex- 
tremely various  and  complicated.  It  would  lead  too 
far  afield  to  analyse  them  here.  In  light  cases,  for 
example,  a  lack  of  logical  connection  can  be  shown  by 
the  fact  that  the  association  is  determined  more  by 
the  sound  of  the  words  than  by  the  sense.  When 
some  one  speaks,  for  example,  of  strain,  the  maniacal 
patient  goes  over  to  the  notion  of  a  train,  because  of 
the  likeness  in  sound.     By  stereotypia  we  mean  the 


i52         PATHOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  LIFE 

constant  repetition  of  the  same  phrases,  gestures,  or 
trains  of  ideas.  By  insistent  or  imperative  ideas 
(Zwangsvorstellungen)  we  mean  ideas  which  press 
persistently  and  overpoweringly  upon  the  attention, 
so  that  they  can  no  longer  be  set  aside,  but  pursue  one 
day  and  night.  Certain  associational  disturbances 
affect  the  association  of  words  more  than  that  of 
thoughts,  and  give  rise  to  senseless  verbal  gabblings, 
or  senseless  speeches,  which,  however,  are  not  based 
on  any  corresponding  confusion  of  thought.  In 
more  serious  cases  of  associational  disturbance  the 
patient  becomes  completely  incoherent  in  his 
thoughts,  as  well  as  in  his  speech.  In  mental  inco- 
herence not  only  the  thoughts  but  also  the  feelings 
and  voluntary  impulses  are  apt  to  fall  into  chaos,  and 
the  patient  wanders  and  moons  about  as  though  lost 
in  a  dream.  Indeed  this  dissociative  condition  is 
akin  to  dreams. 

It  is  extremely  important  to  distinguish  dissocia- 
tions which  rest  upon  the  disturbance  of  organic  tis- 
sue from  purely  functional  incoherence  ( Verwirrtheit) 
resting  upon  some  disturbance  of  the  neurokym. 
The  organic  dissociation  is  in  reality  some- 
thing very  different.  In  the  case  of  functional  disso- 
ciation it  is  mainly  the  content  of  consciousness  that 
is  confused,  while  all  the  subconscious  automatisms 
usually  work  away  in  normal,  safe,  and  good  associa- 
tions. But  in  organic  dissociation,  on  the  contrary, 
we  find  a  disruption  of  the  unconscious  brain-life, 
while  the  associations  in  the  content  of  consciousness 


GENERAL  CONCEPTIONS  153 

may  be  tolerably  well  preserved.  In  a  case  of  organic 
dissociation  the  patient  may  carry  on  a  conversation 
more  or  less  logically  and  follow  a  line  of  thought; 
but  at  the  same  time  he  will  forget  where  he  is,  where 
to  look  for  the  door  of  the  room,  or  that  he  is  in  a 
parlour  full  of  company;  he  will  perform  all  sorts  of 
private  functions  in  public,  or  let  out  secrets  which 
he  formerly  kept  deeply  concealed,  and  perhaps  make 
some  absurd  bargain  that  seems  to  him  very  advanta- 
geous because  he  overlooks  a  vital  point  that  is  clear 
to  everybody  else.  On  the  other  hand,  the  function- 
ally deranged  (Verwirrte)  usually  avoid  such  stu- 
pidities instinctively  and  subconsciously  in  much  the 
same  way  as  we  keep  ourselves  properly  covered  in  a 
dream.  The  whole  instinctive  mechanism,  including 
habit,  is  thrown  into  no  confusion,  or  into  much  less. 
In  cases  of  organic  dissociation  you  can  fairly  lay 
your  hands  upon  the  gaps  in  the  connection  of  the 
brain  elements.  The  whole  work  of  the  brain  goes  on 
in  accordance  with  the  usual  rules,  as  in  any  waking 
condition ;  but  it  stumbles  every  moment  over  gaps  in 
the  subconscious  associations  which  are  carried  on 
perfectly  automatically  in  normal  people,  for  now 
they  are  full  of  all  sorts  of  gaps  and  disturbances. 
The  patient  overlooks  and  forgets  the  very  thing  that 
is  normally  never  forgotten  because  it  takes  care  of 
itself  mechanically.  For  the  rest,  organic  dissocia- 
tion usually  connects  itself  with  uncertainties  and  co- 
ordinational  disturbances  of  voluntary  movements 
and  of  speech,  which  have  exactly  the  same  cause,  to 


154        PATHOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  LIFE 

wit:  lesions  scattered  throughout  the  nervous  tissue. 
When,  for  example,  a  (e  paralytic J  says  or  writes 
"  Conisople  "  for  "  Constantinople,"  and  his  speech 
constantly  stumbles  in  this  way  over  syllables  and 
words,  these  broken  syllables  give  a  kind  of  phono- 
gram or  graphic  picture  of  the  organic  dissociation. 
Needless  to  say,  there  are  all  grades  of  this  from  the 
lightest  disturbance  to  the  complete  destruction  of 
the  brain  life.  In  the  latter  case  not  only  all  auto- 
matisms in  thought,  feeling,  and  movement,  but  also 
the  whole  higher  content,  the  soul,  is  shattered  be- 
yond recognition. 

Memory  Disturbances.  These  belong  partly  with 
the  foregoing,  especially  with  the  organic  disturb- 
ances, which  have  much  in  common  with  dissociation. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  functional  amnesias  or  losses 
of  memory  are  sui  generis.  They  can  be  partial  or 
complete.  For  example,  one  can  lose  the  use  of  a 
language ;  or  perhaps  a  whole  section  of  his  life  is  for- 
gotten. Again  in  "  psychic  epilepsy,"  one  often  has 
only  a  vague  recollection,  as  from  a  dream,  of  what 
took  place  during  an  attack. 

By  double  consciousness  we  understand  rare  cases 
in  which  a  person  leads  two  different  lives  connected 
with  each  other  by  no  recollection,  no  conscious  bridge. 
The  most  peculiar  cases  were  those  of  Macnish  and 
Azam,  in  which  the  patients  fell  alternately  from  con- 
dition A  into  condition  B,  and  in  each  one  knew  no- 
thing of  what  had  taken  place  in  the  other.  I  refer 
those  who  are  interested  in  these  things  to  my  book 


GENERAL  CONCEPTIONS  155 

on  hypnotism  (Encke,  publisher,  Stuttgart).  I  my- 
self observed  and  cured  by  hypnotism  a  very  instruc- 
tive case  of  amnesia  which  had  lasted  eight  months 
and  in  which  the  patient  had  totally  forgotten  a 
former  residence  in  Australia.  In  the  book  referred 
to  the  reader  can  find  a  description  of  the  case  by  Dr. 
Naef. 

Disturbances  of  Disposition  and  Feeling.  These 
play  a  prominent  part  with  the  mentally  diseased. 
Pathological  gloom  or  sadness  is  found  especially  in 
melancholia.  It  is  usually  associated  with  a  deep  in- 
hibition of  the  current  of  thought  and  of  voluntary 
impulses,  and  can  be  distinguished  from  normal  sad- 
ness by  its  connection  with  other  symptoms  such  as 
fear  and  oppression  of  mind  (Angst  und  Beklem- 
mung) ,  and  by  the  lack  of  an  appropriate  cause,  as 
well  as  by  its  duration  and  stability.  Pathological 
happiness  and  lightmindedness  is  found  especially  in 
mania  and  progressive  paralysis  of  the  brain  and  is 
usually  associated  with  a  rush  of  ideas  (Gedanken- 
flucht) .  Still  more  important  is  the  mixed  emotion, 
the  high  key  with  two  variants — a  fevered  sadness  and 
a  fevered  exaltation.  In  this  the  ego  reacts  vigor- 
ously to  the  discomfort  or  disturbed  comfort  and  calls 
out  a  contrary  mood  by  way  of  exchange.  The  high 
key  can  rise  to  fury  and  shows  all  varieties  of  cor- 
responding emotions,  such  as  envy,  revengefulness, 
suspicion.  All  these  feelings  associate  them- 
selves with  false  suppositions,  delusions,  and  other  dis- 
eased   cerebral    conditions    and    usually    break    out 


i56         PATHOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  LIFE 

against  innocent  persons,  who  often  suffer  untold 
miseries  thereby.  Through  it  all  the  patient  may 
proceed  with  the  utmost  cunning  and  consistency, 
dissimulate  with  accomplished  perfidy,  and  carry 
through  the  most  fearful  crimes.  There  is  a  whole 
set  of  other  feelings,  also  without  adequate  normal 
cause,  which  can  arise  with  corresponding  impulses 
from  pathological  conditions  in  the  brain — e.  g.,  fear- 
fulness,  feelings  of  pressure  or  burning,  and  per- 
verted feelings  of  hunger  or  sex. 

By  apathy  we  mean  the  lack  of  a  normal  feeling- 
reaction.  After  long-continued  mental  disturbances 
this  is  the  rule.  The  weakening,  amounting  perhaps 
to  total  loss,  of  conscience  and  altruistic  sympathy 
which  is  developed  sooner  or  later  in  most  mental  dis- 
eases is  very  important.  This  is  briefly  designated  as 
the  ethical  defect. 

Disturbances  of  will  and  movement  are  manifold. 
By  abulia  we  mean  the  suspension  of  the  power  to 
will;  by  impulsiveness  the  quick,  unconsidered,  and 
irresistible  translation  of  feelings  and  thoughts  into 
thoughtless  acts  devoid  of  all  consistency  and  per- 
severance. A  general,  more  or  less  confused  excita- 
tion of  will  indicates  mania.  By  imperative  impulses 
(Zwangsimpulsen)  or  forced  acts  (Zwangshand- 
lungen) we  mean  absolutely  abnormal,  senseless  im- 
pulses which  impel  forcibly  to  conduct.  I  know  a 
patient  who  had  the  groundless  impulse  to  cudgel 
or  strangle  people  and  in  desperation  she  herself 
warned    her    victims;    and    it    is    very    common    for 


GENERAL  CONCEPTIONS  157 

patients  to  carry  out  some  absurd  performance 
either  automatically  or  under  the  influence  of 
delusions. 

The  general  characteristic  of  the  mentally  dis- 
eased, as  contrasted  with  those  who  are  at  least 
partially  sound,  is  the  lack  of  insight  into  the  abnor- 
mality of  their  own  condition.  This  rests  on  the 
alteration  of  the  whole  personality,  and  this  in  turn 
upon  diffused  changes  in  the  functioning  of  the  brain, 
as  a  result  of  which  the  outer  world  and  other  people 
impress  it  differently,  and  the  patient  attributes  this 
change  to  them  and  not  to  himself.  We  have  abso- 
lutely no  other  criterion  of  mental  disease.  But  it  is 
evident  that  this  criterion  can  be  only  relative ;  for  the 
insight  can  be  partial  and  incomplete,  no  less  than  the 
disturbance  in  the  brain.  Sharp  boundaries  are  not 
to  be  found  here  any  more  than  elsewhere  in  nature, 
and  perhaps  not  even  so  much.  On  the  other  hand, 
a  partial  disturbance  of  mental  function  (which  in 
that  case  cannot  be  spoken  of  unqualifiedly  as  a  men- 
tal disturbance)  can  be  accompanied  with  a  perfectly 
clear  insight. 

Nervous  Disturbances  which  are  not  Mental  Dis- 
turbances. Many  of  the  nervous  disturbances  which 
we  have  mentioned  can  be  circumscribed  and  appear 
when  the  general  mental  health  is  otherwise  tolerably 
good.  And  now  we  must  briefly  enumerate  those 
disturbances  which  on  the  whole  affect  the  cerebrum 
only  partially  and  locally  or  perhaps  not  directly  at 
all.     They  rest  upon  fundamentally  the  same  affec- 


158        PATHOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  LIFE 

tions  of  nervous  tissue  and  its  functions  as  the  others 
just  mentioned. 

Pains,  paresthesias,  and  even  false  perceptions  may 
have  their  cause  in  stimulated  conditions  of  the  lower 
brain  centres,  spinal  cord,  or  sensory  nerves.  Inflam- 
mation of  the  nerves  or  Neuritis,  as,  for  example,  in 
zoster,  can  call  forth  frightful  pains,  which,  of  course, 
are  only  felt  when  the  current  is  conducted  to  the 
brain.  The  same  pain  can  have  an  organic  or  a 
functional  cause,  like  toothache,  which  may  be  due 
to  an  inflammatory  process  in  the  teeth,  or  be  purely 
functional  (neuralgia).  I  treated  a  patient  wiio  had 
previously  had  for  two  weeks  a  very  painful  infec- 
tious inflammation  of  the  urinary  passages  attended 
with  suppuration.  Two  years  later  he  had  a  slight 
mental  attack  of  hyperesthesia  and  at  the  same  time 
entered  upon  a  course  of  conduct  which  might  easily 
result  in  a  new  infection.  Through  anxiety  he  sug- 
gested the  disease  to  himself  to  such  an  extent  that 
for  two  weeks  he  underwent  all  the  pains  and  stages 
of  the  disease  in  question,  although  the  most  careful 
investigation  on  our  part  proved  the  absolute  in- 
tegrity of  the  urinary  passages.  After  he  recov- 
ered, the  man,  who  was  educated  and  reliable,  said 
that  the  second  attack  (the  purely  functional  result 
of  autosuggestion)  had  been  at  least  as  painful  as 
the  first  (caused  by  suppurative  inflammation). 
This  case  shows  more  clearly  than  any  theoretical  dis- 
cussion how  in  the  sphere  of  sensibility  and  pain  a 
functional  stimulation  of  the  brain  has  the  same  effect 


GENERAL  CONCEPTIONS  159 

as  the  worst  irritation  of  a  peripheral  nerve.  On  the 
other  hand,  I  myself  have  suffered  for  the  last  six 
years  from  ringing  in  the  ears  caused  by  a  chronic 
dry  catarrh  of  the  middle  ear.  Yet  I  have  succeeded 
in  diverting  my  attention  so  completely  from  it  that, 
as  a  rule,  I  no  longer  hear  it  except  when  I  think 
directly  of  it,  through  association. 

Functional  nervous  complaints  are,  as  a  rule,  much 
more  painful,  vexatious,  and  hard  to  bear  than 
organic.  The  intensity  of  a  pain  or  suffering  is  in 
general  by  no  means  proportional  to  the  stimulation 
of  the  peripheral  nerve,  but  is  dependent  to  a  much 
greater  extent  upon  the  condition  of  the  brain.  If  I 
am  "  nervous,"  i.  e.,  in  a  somewhat  pathological  condi- 
tion, through  loss  of  sleep  or  mental  tension,  the 
slightest  stimulus  pains  and  vexes  me.  If,  on  the 
other  hand,  I  have  become  dulled  and  hypoassthetic 
through  long  tramps  and  other  muscular  fatigues, 
then  wounds  and  inflammations  cause  little  pain  and 
I  can  even  bear  rather  serious  bodily  troubles  with 
relative  indifference. 

The  vaso-motor  nerves,  whose  ganglion-cells  are  to 
be  found  in  the  sympathetic  ganglion  nodes,  can  cause 
pallors  in  different  parts  of  the  body  by  the  stimula- 
tion and  contraction  of  the  vascular  muscles,  and  on 
the  other  hand  they  can  cause  reddening  and  even 
bleeding  by  their  paralysis.  Through  the  brain  and 
spinal  cord  thoughts  can  lead  to  a  paralysing  or  stim- 
ulation of  the  sympathetic  ganglion  nodes,  and  con- 
sequently   to    blushing     or    blanching     of    certain 


i6o        PATHOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  LIFE 

peripheral  parts.  Through  disturbances  of  this 
mechanism  many  nervous  disorders  arise,  such  as 
chilblains,  sweats,  bleeding  of  the  nose,  chills  and 
congestions,  various  disturbances  of  the  reproductive 
organs,  and,  if  it  lasts  long  enough,  nutritional  dis- 
turbances in  the  part  of  the  body  supplied  by  the 
blood-vessels  affected.  In  the  same  way  there  are 
peripheral  ganglionic  mechanisms  which  superin- 
tend glandular  secretion,  the  action  of  the  intestinal 
muscles,  etc.  These  likewise  can  be  influenced 
through  the  brain  by  ideas  and  emotions.  Thus  we 
can  explain  how  constipation  and  a  vast  number  of 
other  disturbances  of  digestion  and  of  menstruation 
can  be  produced  through  the  brain,  without  having 
their  cause  in  the  place  in  which  they  appear.  It  is 
for  the  same  reason  that  such  disturbances  can  be 
cured  by  hypnotic  suggestion. 

Every  destruction  of  a  peripheral  sensory  nerve 
produces  an  anaesthesia,  and  every  destruction  of  a 
peripheral  motor  nerve  a  complete  degeneration  and 
shrivelling  of  the  muscles  provided  for  by  it;  they 
atrophy.  The  same  consequence  follows  the  de- 
struction of  the  ganglion  cells  from  which  the  neu- 
rones of  the  muscle  originate.  When,  on  the  other 
hand,  only  the  communicating  neurones  of  the  brain 
to  the  muscular  neurones  are  affected,  there  is  only  a 
loss  of  voluntary  control.  The  muscles  affected  can 
still  contract  reflexly;  they  remain  alive,  but  can  no 
longer  carry  out  any  purposeful  movement. 

Cramps    are    involuntary    muscular    contractions. 


GENERAL  CONCEPTIONS  161 

When  they  are  continuous,  as  in  lockjaw  and  other 
forms  of  tetanus,  they  are  called  tonic.  Clonic 
cramps,  on  the  other  hand,  consist  of  a  number  of 
muscular  contractions  following  rapidly  upon  each 
other,  as  in  epilepsy,  in  hysterical  attacks,  and  in 
very  many  other  irritated  conditions  of  the  brain  and 
spinal  cord.  Such  cramps  can  be  either  local  or 
general  and  can  have  either  an  organic  or  a  functional 
cause.  They  arise  from  irritations  of  the  motor  or 
centrifugal  neurones  and  can  be  occasioned  by  bleed- 
ing, inflammation,  or  shrinking  in  the  brain  or  cord, 
as  well  as  by  an  idea,  or  a  mere  storm  of  neurokym,  as 
in  hysteria.  I  hope  that  the  first  chapters  will  have 
made  this  clear  to  the  reader. 

Another  kind  of  motor  disturbance  is  catalepsy. 
In  the  lighter  form,  of  warlike  pliability,  each  limb 
retains  the  position  that  has  been  given  to  it  and  re- 
mains passive — ideas  can  no  longer  lead  to  move- 
ment. In  the  most  extreme  cases  the  whole  body  is 
stark  and  cold  and  apparently  dead.  Lethargy  is  a 
sleep-like  asphyxia  (or  suspended  animation),  with 
limp,  powerless  muscles.  These  conditions  may  be 
purely  functional  or  may  be  due  to  pressure  on  the 
brain,  from  internal  bleeding,  hydrocephalus,  and  the 
like. 

Then  there  are  various  disturbances  of  co-ordination 
(disturbances  in  the  sure  and  rapid  combi- 
nation and  sequence  of  movements,)  briefly  indi- 
cated by  the  genera]  term  motor  ataxia.  When  an 
ataxia  is  rhythmic,  as  in  delirium  tremens,  it  is  called 
11 


i62  PATHOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  LIFE 

tremor  {Zittern)  ;  but  when  it  is  irregular  and  with- 
out rhythm  it  is  called  simply  ataxia.  Purely  func- 
tional tremor  occurs;  functional  ataxia  seldom.  A 
typical  ataxia  is  tabes  dorsalis  or  locomotor  ataxy, 
due  to  a  disease  of  the  spinal  cord.  Many  disturb- 
ances of  co-ordination  are  to  be  found  in  speech ;  stut- 
tering depends  on  a  vocal  cramp,  which,  in  turn,  may 
be  occasioned  by  a  series  of  shrinking  processes  in  the 
brain  and  medulla  oblongata.  In  St.  Vitus's  dance 
(chorea),  again,  there  are  involuntary,  irregular,  dis- 
turbing, unco-ordinated  movements  of  a  functional 
sort.     We  content  ourselves  with  these  examples. 

Now  for  a  few  general  remarks. 

As  in  other  fields  of  pathology  so  in  the  pathology 
of  the  nervous  system,  there  are  no  phenomena  whose 
roots  are  not  laid  in  normal  functions.  All  the  dis- 
orders that  we  have  described  rest  on  an  increase, 
decrease,  annihilation,  or  dislocation  of  normal  func- 
tions. The  normal  man  has  hallucinations  in  dreams. 
In  our  psychology  we  saw  the  source  of  deceptions  of 
memory.  Strong  emotional  impressions  can  cause 
transitory  insistent  ideas  (Zwangsgedanken)  with 
normal  people ;  and  muscular  overexertion  leads  norm- 
ally to  trembling  or  tremor  (Zittern).  The  abnorm- 
ality thus  consists  of  the  fact  that  the  reactions  no 
longer  correspond  to  the  stimulus;  they  do  not  take 
place  at  all  (paralysis),  or  exaggerated  acts  arise 
without  appropriate  cause  and  last  too  long,  or  the 
neurones  controlling  the  act  are  permanently  altered 
or  even  destroyed. 


GENERAL  CONCEPTIONS  163 

After  what  has  been  said  it  is  easy  to  understand 
that  nervous  and  mental  disturbances  can  be  acute, 
chronic,  developmental,  or  hereditary,  according  to 
their  nature  and  mode  of  origin. 

They  are  acute  when  a  nervous  system  which  was 
healthy  is  more  or  less  suddenly  affected  either  or- 
ganically or  functionally.  If  the  cause  of  the 
trouble  then  disappears  or  can  be  removed  without 
leaving  lasting  disturbances  behind  it  there  is  a  cure. 

They  are  chronic  when  the  disturbing  irritation 
arises  slowly  or  repeatedly  and  stubbornly  persists, 
when  its  causes  continue,  or  even  when  the  irritation 
itself  leaves  behind  it  lasting  products,  defects  or 
irritations,  which  can  only  be  removed  with  great  dif- 
ficulty if  at  all;  for  chronic  diseases  are  usually 
totally  or  partially  incurable.  By  leaving  a  per- 
manent consequence  behind  it,  an  acute  disease  may 
become  chronic. 

Diseases  are  developmental  or  ontogenetic  when 
they  attack  the  individual  during  his  development, 
whether  as  embryo  or  as  child,  and  when  they  are 
intense  or  chronic  enough  to  interfere  with  the  de- 
velopment. Transitory  affections  of  children  or 
embryos  do  not  belong  here,  but  with  the  acute  forms. 

Diseases,  finally,  are  inherited  or  constitutional 
(phylogenetic)  when  they  were  already  contained  as 
sickly  tendencies  in  the  plasm  of  the  germ  cells  from 
whose  union  the  individual  arose.  When  this  affects 
the  germinal  constitution  of  the  cerebrum,  the  very 
nature  of  a  person's  character  is  sickly  or  diseased. 


i64        PATHOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  LIFE 

If  the  disease  affects  only  the  germinal  constitution 
of  other  parts  of  the  nervous  system,  then  of  course 
the  ego,  the  whole  mental  being  of  the  individual,  is 
not  usually  affected,  or  at  least  vitally  affected  by  it; 
though  it  may  be  to  some  extent  when  the  higher 
senses  are  lost,  as  in  congenital  deafness  and  blind- 
ness; and  yet  the  highly  gifted  Laura  Bridgeman 
reached  a  fairly  high  mental  development  through  a 
laborious  education  of  her  sense  of  touch,  and  there 
are  a  few  other  similar  cases  [such  as  that  of  Helen 
Keller,  which  is  even  more  marvellous]. 


CHAPTER  VII 

SYNOPSIS     OF      MENTAL     AND     NERVOUS     DISEASES     OR 

ABNORMALITIES 

Group    I — Developmental    Diseases     {Ontogenetic 

Disturbances) 

THE  abnormal  conditions  here  to  be  considered 
are  all  characterised  by  the  fact  that  the  men- 
tal or  nervous  life  is  disturbed  or  impeded  somewhere 
in  its  ontogenetic  development  from  the  embryo  to 
the  end  of  the  growing  period  and  remains  on  a  lower, 
childish  level.  The  same  injurious  influences  are 
operative  here,  to  some  extent,  as  in  other  groups, 
especially  heredity;  but,  in  consequence  of  the  de- 
velopmental arrest,  the  results  are  different  and  jus- 
tify us  in  setting  up  a  special  group  of  diseases, 
though  to  be  sure  it  cannot  be  very  sharply  defined. 
Thus  the  developemental  arrest  of  the  embryo  in  its 
mother's  womb  has  a  much  more  noticeable  effect 
than  that  of  a  fifteen-year-old  boy.  The  latter  arrest 
is  much  more  like  the  diseases  of  an  adult. 

Although  this  first  group  contains  very  different 
abnormal  conditions,  whose  prognosis  can  be  differ- 
ent also,  yet  on  the  whole  the  most  important  question 
is  the  degree  to  which  the  mental  or  nervous  develop- 

,  .165 


i66  PATHOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  LIFE 

ment  has  been  disturbed  or  arrested.  Developmen- 
tal arrests  can  be  divided  into  either  two  or  three 
grades,  according  to  the  standpoint  of  the  particular 
writer. 

First  grade:  Idiocy,  or  deep  congenital  anoia. 

Second  grade:  Imbecility,  or  weakmindedness ;  a 
lesser  degree  of  mental  weakness. 

Kraepelin  distinguishes  still  a  third  grade,  which  he 
calls  Debility,  and  which  includes  the  lightest 
forms  of  weakmindedness.  Since  the  laity  are  sel- 
dom willing  to  recognise  these  as  pathological  the 
erection  of  this  third  class  may  be  justifiable. 

Congenital  mental  weaknesses  or  congenital  nerv- 
ous arrests  can  also  be  divided  into  organic  and  func- 
tional, in  the  sense  of  the  terms  already  explained. 

A.  Idiocy  and  Congenital  Organic  Nervous 
Afflictions. 

Every  kind  of  inflammation,  deformity,  bleeding, 
or  chronic  affection  of  the  germ  (such  as  syphilis) 
can  cause  local  or  more  or  less  diffused  defects  in  the 
brain,  the  spinal  cord,  or  the  peripheral  nerves  of  the 
embryo  and  the  child.  There  are  therefore  many 
totally  different  kinds  of  developmental  arrest.  We 
name: 

1.  Cretinism.  Certain  obscure  causes  (nature  of 
the  drinking  water,  inheritance,  etc.)  produce  a  dis- 
ease of  the  thyroid  gland  (goitre),  which  on  its  part 
brings  about  what  is  called  Myocoedema,  a  metabolic 
disease  of  the  whole  body,  including  the  central  nerv- 
ous system.     The  well-known  picture  of  the  cretin 


SYNOPSIS  OF  DISEASES  167 

with  the  congenital  peculiarities  of  his  skeleton,  his 
whole  bodily  form  and  his  brain,  which  may  be  com- 
pletely idiotic,  seems  to  be  "  endemic "  in  certain 
regions,  i.  e.,  to  be  bound  up  with  some  local 
peculiarities. 

2.  Microcephaly  rests  on  strong  congenital  de- 
fects of  the  cerebrum,  which  often  remains  as  small 
as  one's  fist.  The  skull  remains  correspondingly 
small,  with  a  pointed,  bird-like  profile.  The  micro- 
cephalic idiot  is  usually  lively  and  malicious,  while  the 
cretin  is  more  mournful  and  quiet.  Lannelogue  con- 
fused cause  and  effect  when  he  wanted  to  cure  idiocy 
by  trepanning  or  cutting  out  a  part  of  the  skull,  for 
the  smallness  of  the  skull  is  not  responsible  for  that  of 
the  brain,  but  vice  versa.  Experience  shows  that  in 
growth  the  organ  which  is  poorer  in  blood  (in  this 
case  the  skull)  always  gives  way  before  one  that  is 
richer  in  blood  (in  this  case  the  brain) . 

3.  Porencephaly.  When  an  inflammation,  bleed- 
ing, or  any  other  ravage  wipes  out  a  part  of  the 
tender  brain  of  the  embryo,  the  demolished  mass  be- 
comes pulpy  and  is  gradually  absorbed  by  the  blood. 
Then  there  remains  a  great  hole  filled  with  watery 
fluid,  or  serum.  This  is  called  Porencephaly.  In 
accordance  with  what  we  have  already  learned  about 
the  anatomy  of  the  brain,  the  consequences  will  differ 
according  to  the  part  affected.  If,  for  example,  the 
central  convolutions  (see  Fig.  9)  or  the  pyramidal 
tract  running  from  them  to  the  spinal  cord  is  af- 
fected, then  the  patient  can  acquire  only  a  diminished 


i68        PATHOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  LIFE 

voluntary  control  or  perhaps  no  control  at  all  of  the 
leg  or  arm,  or  both,  on  the  opposite  side  of  the  body. 
Yet  strange  to  say  this  crippling  is  not  the  only  con- 
sequence of  the  porencephaly,  but  the  whole  limb  re- 
mains backward  in  its  development,  i.  e.,  short  and 
thin  like  the  limb  of  a  child.  When  the  patient  grows 
up,  he  has  normal  limbs  on  one  side  and  something 
dwarfed  and  wholly  or  partially  crippled  on  the 
other.  If,  on  the  contrary,  the  seat  of  the  trouble  is 
in  the  visual  or  the  auditory  centre  (see  Figs.  9  and 
10),  then  there  arise  corresponding  disturbances  in 
cerebral  vision  or  hearing  (see  above),  which  of 
course  last  throughout  life. 

4.  Hydrocephalus  or  water  on  the  brain  is  the 
consequence  of  the  exudation  of  water  into  the  cere- 
bral ventricles.  The  brain  is  pressed  apart,  and  so 
are  the  skull  bones.  A  slight  degree  of  the  trouble  is 
compatible  with  mental  efficiency  if  the  brain-sub- 
stance has  not  suffered.  With  higher  degrees  there 
come  idiocy  (Blödsinn)  and  arrested  development. 
Hydrocephalic  patients  can  be  recognised  at  once  by 
their  tremendous  skulls. 

5.  Other  Brain  Defects.  There  are  a  great  many 
other  kinds  of  defect  in  the  brain,  which  sometimes 
depend  upon  original  deformities  in  the  plasm  of  the 
cell,  and  sometimes  upon  diseases  of  the  embryonic 
brain.  Unless  the  defects  are  small  and  localised 
they  all  lead  to  a  more  or  less  high  degree  of  idiocy,  as 
does  the  porencephaly  already  mentioned  as  soon  as 
it  is  fairly  large.    Motor  and  sensory  disturbances  are 


SYNOPSIS  OF  DISEASES  169 

also  associated  with  these  defects  according  to  the 
region  involved.  Certain  defects  in  the  brain  are  not 
visible  to  the  unaided  eye,  because  they  are  only 
caused  by  very  minute  alterations  in  the  brain  sub- 
stance. Here  the  microscope  decides.  But  the  re- 
sult is  the  same;  for  it  does  not  matter  much  so  far 
as  consequences  are  concerned  whether  a  group  of 
neurones  is  completely  destroyed  or  only  completely 
blocked  in  its  operations  by  microscopic  alterations 
of  the  tissue. 

6.  Idiocy  in  Apparently  Nonnal  Brains.  It 
must  be  admitted  there  are  cases  of  idiocy,  and  very 
deep-seated  cases  too,  where  neither  gross  nor  micro- 
scopic abnormalities  can  be  discovered;  but  doubtless 
this  is  because  of  the  enormous  difficulty  of  micro- 
scopic investigations  in  the  brain.  It  is  wellnigh 
impossible  to  examine  the  whole  brain  exactly  in  a 
single  autopsy,  because  only  the  most  complicated 
methods  of  preservation  and  staining  can  exhibit  the 
extremely  fine  texture  of  the  ganglion  cells  and  nerve 
fibrils,  and  then  we  often  cannot  be  certain  about 
what  we  see.  What  we  recognise  is  usually  only 
something  very  coarse. 

Idiocy  is  a  very  vague  and  general  notion.  In  dif- 
ferent cases  different  mental  faculties  have  been  left 
undeveloped  to  different  extents.  Idiocy  in  the 
sphere  of  the  feelings,  which  manifests  itself  now  in 
dull  apathy  and  again  in  passionate  excitability,  is 
very  important.  These  symptoms  are  very  common, 
and  with  them  all  the  finer  feelings,  especially  the 


i7o         PATHOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  LIFE 

moral  or  altruistic  feelings,  are  lacking.  The  idiot 
is  usually  a  cross  and  brutal  egoist,  i.  e.,  sl  moral  idiot. 
Idiocy  in  the  sphere  of  the  will  can  manifest  itself 
through  abulia  (a  completely  passive,  indifferent 
existence  without  impulse)  as  well  as  through  irrita- 
ble weakness  or  impulsiveness  of  will.  The  impul- 
sive form  is  the  worse.  The  patient  quickly  turns 
a  feeling  or  idea  into  action,  yet  he  lacks  the  persever- 
ance to  carry  his  resolutions  through  consistently ;  his 
voluntary  impulses  are  only  children  of  the  feeling  of 
the  moment.  In  the  sphere  of  knowledge  the  idiot 
shows  his  intellectual  weakness  especially  by  poverty 
of  thought,  by  his  inability  to  form  complicated  asso- 
ciations, his  inability  to  grasp  complicated  relations, 
etc.  According  to  the  degree  of  his  weakness  he  can 
learn  speech,  writing,  and  arithmetic  insufficiently, 
barely,  or  not  at  all.  Memory  is  not  necessarily 
weak;  with  many  idiots  it  is  deficient,  to  be  sure, 
yet  there  are  others  with  a  giant  memory.  But  the 
incapacity  to  associate  verbal  and  written  images 
with  the  corresponding  ideas  is  especially  character- 
istic. 

There  are  many  varieties  of  idiocy.  Commonly 
an  idiotic  child  can  be  recognised  very  early,  at  least 
when  the  idiocy  is  at  all  great:  The  child  is  unstable, 
inattentive,  with  a  vacant  look,  is  wild  and  excitable 
or  dull  of  sense,  but  above  all  restless,  often  destruc- 
tive, and  unclean.  Yet  the  parents  will  not  believe 
in  a  serious  abnormality  and  continually  hope  for  a 
mental  development  which  does  not  come.     The  care 


SYNOPSIS  OF  DISEASES  171 

of  idiots  is  an  extremely  thankless  task.  In  the  idiot 
asylums  one  often  goes  to  tremendous  trouble  to 
teaeh  little  acts  of  skill  like  writing  and  reading;  but 
it  would  be  better  to  content  oneself  with  cultivating 
the  very  simplest  practical  and  useful  attainments 
and  habits  of  order  and  cleanliness.  The  main  aim 
of  the  management  must  always  be  the  protection  of 
the  individual  idiot  from  himself  and  from  the  others 
and  the  protection  of  society  from  them  all.  This  last 
is  very  important,  for  idiots  are  often  extremely  bru- 
tal, sexual,  and  otherwise  dangerous.  The  speech  of 
idiots  is  very  characteristic,  childlike,  impeded,  often 
spasmodic,  and  badly  combined  with  the  breathing. 

The  same  ravages  of  nervous  tissue  which  lead  to 
idiocy  when  they  occur  in  the  cerebrum  may  occur  in 
the  spinal  cord  and  lower  brain  centres;  and  then 
they  produce  all  sorts  of  paralyses,  reflex  disturb- 
ances, and  disturbances  of  vocal  articulation  and  other 
complicated  automatisms,  of  which  the  patient  him- 
self is  conscious  as  a  nervous  disease  or  failing,  but 
which  are  manifestly  incurable  because  congenital. 
Deaf-and-dumbness  usually  rests  on  a  congenital 
organic  disturbance  of  the  auditory  centres  or  the 
auditory  nerve.  The  patient  does  not  speak  because 
he  does  not  hear,  and  consequently  cannot  make  audi- 
tory symbols.  But  he  is  intelligent,  and  so  he  can 
be  taught  to  understand  what  is  said  and  even  to 
speak,  by  the  aid  of  the  other  organs  of  sense. 
Shrinking  of  the  optic  nerve  in  the  embryo  leads  to 
an     incurable     congenital     blindness.     Congenitally 


i72         PATHOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  LIFE 

blind  patients  who  can  be  cured  by  operations,,  as  well 
as  those  who  learn  to  see  by  means  of  the  newly  dis- 
covered radium  rays,  are  those  whose  blindness  is 
caused  by  a  clouding  of  the  refracting  lenses  of  the 
eye  while  the  nerve  remains  healthy.  But  before  the 
removal  of  the  clouded  lens  [the  cataract],  or  before 
the  action  of  the  radium  rays,  these  patients  had  never 
seen  anything,  and  therefore  could  not  form  any  visual 
perceptions  or  memories  or  associations.  Therefore 
when  an  operation  or  the  action  of  the  radium  rays 
suddenly  enables  them  to  see,  they  perceive  at  first 
only  a  confusion  of  colors  or  forms  which  they  are 
absolutely  unable  to  bring  into  relation  with  the  things 
which  they  know  perfectly  well  by  taste  or  hearing. 
They  must  first  see  and  then  learn  to  associate  the 
images  of  sight  with  those  of  other  senses.  But  if 
their  brain  is  normal  they  can  do  it. 

B.     Imbecility  or  Feeble-mindedness. 

By  feeble-mindedness  we  mean  a  lesser  form  of 
congenital  mental  weakness  than  idiocy.  Here  altera- 
tions of  the  cerebral  substance  are  not  usually  demon- 
strable. Yet  minor  local  lesions  of  the  brain  and 
insignificant  visible  destructions  of  substance  may 
cause  imbecility.  Imbecility  can  affect  all  mental 
spheres,  and  different  ones  in  very  different  degrees, 
according  to  its  severity.  It  is  not  sharply  distin- 
guished from  :'  normal ,:  inborn  stupidity  and  in- 
capacity. It  is  of  great  social  importance  because  it 
is  often  misjudged  and  misunderstood.  The  idiot  is 
regarded  by  everybody  as  irresponsible  and  unsound, 


SYNOPSIS  OF  DISEASES  173 

and  protected  accordingly;  but  the  slightly  weak- 
minded  only,  as  a  rule,  when  he  has  visible  frailties  or 
when  there  is  purely  intellectual  weakness.  Yet  a 
feeble-minded  person  need  not  necessarily  be  feeble- 
minded in  every  respect.  He  can  be  especially  weak 
in  some  special  sphere,  and  in  this  case  the  weakness 
is  easily  turned  into  a  reproach.  Often,  and  indeed 
for  the  most  part,  feeble-mindedness  rests  on  a  dis- 
ease or  defect  of  the  germinal  constitution,  and  thus 
belongs  more  to  the  following  second  group.  Intel- 
lectual feeble-mindedness  can  be  recognised  espe- 
cially by  weakness  of  judgment,  narrow  horizon,  and 
poverty  of  thought.  Often  gifted  with  good  memory 
and  normal  powers  of  apprehension,  the  patient  de- 
ceives both  teacher  and  parent,  and  only  betrays  his 
weakness  at  the  age  at  which  people  become  inde- 
pendent, by  his  inability  to  conduct  himself  rationally 
and  make  his  way  in  life.  Then  he  makes  nothing 
but  blunders,  and  succumbs  in  the  most  childish  way 
to  the  first  crude  temptations  of  Venus  or  Bacchus 
or  Mammon.  In  spite  of  all  the  learning  that  he 
picked  up  he  ruins  himself  and  often  his  family  by 
foolish  undertakings  and  speculations  in  which  he 
falls  into  the  hands  of  sharks. 

Imbecility  of  feeling  manifests  itself  in  apathy, 
indifference,  and,  most  of  all,  in  a  failure  of  the  higher 
ethical  stirrings,  especially  of  sympathy  for  others; 
and  this  is  frequently  united  with  extreme  anti-social 
and  brutally  egoistic  impulses.  To  this  class  of 
mainly  or  purely  moral  imbeciles  (and  still  more  to 


i74        PATHOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  LIFE 

the  class  of  moral  idiots)  belong  the  born  criminals 
and  all  sorts  of  human  beasts  of  prey  for  whom  so- 
ciety is  nothing  but  a  field  to  be  exploited  by  their 
reckless  selfishness.  Equipped  as  he  often  is  with  the 
most  refined  cunning,  the  moral  imbecile  then  knows 
how  to  drape  himself  virtuously  in  beautiful  speeches 
and  hypocritical  acts  and  to  conceal  his  selfish  and 
criminal  impulses  under  the  mantle  of  feigned  love 
for  his  neighbour.  Indeed  ethical  depravity  can 
often  be  associated  with  high  intelligence;  and  this  is 
the  case  with  many  of  the  great  criminals  and  mon- 
sters of  whom  world-history  tells.  As  a  rule,  how- 
ever, moral  imbecility  populates  the  penitentiaries 
and  the  houses  of  correction  and  prostitution  with 
"  recidivists  "  or  old-offenders,  whose  egoistic  passions 
cannot  be  suppressed  either  through  kindness  or  edu- 
cation or  punishment,  and  therefore  continually  drive 
them  to  new  crimes  or  at  the  least  to  new  conflicts 
with  society.  Still  more  frequently  imbecility  of 
feeling  manifests  itself  in  a  simple,  outspoken  tend- 
ency to  malicious  and  perverse  transactions  and  in  a 
predominance  of  the  vulgar  passions. 

In  the  field  of  aesthetics,  imbecility  manifests  itself 
in  a  lack  of  every  artistic  sense.  There  are,  for  ex- 
ample, musical  imbeciles  who  cannot  tell  a  noise  from 
a  tone. 

Imbecility  of  will  appears  mainly  in  the  forms  of 
abulia  and  impulsiveness,  as  in  the  case  of  idiocy.1 
It  is  often  accompanied  by  a  good,  normal  endow- 
ment of  intellect  and  feeling;  but  neither  the  impul- 

1  See  above. 


SYNOPSIS  OF  DISEASES  175 

sive  sufferer  nor  the  victim  of  abulia  can  turn  these 
gifts  to  proper  account.  The  latter  is  hindered  by 
his  sluggishness  and  phlegmatic  disposition.  The 
former  lacks  in  persistence  and  consecutiveness  of 
conduct,  and  puts  his  gifts  wholly  at  the  service  of  his 
rapidly  changing  moods  and  impulses,  so  that  nothing 
is  ever  properly  finished.  In  most  cases  imbecility 
manifests  itself  in  several  spheres  together  and  sup- 
plies society  with  numberless  inferior  people.  Still, 
many  of  these  are  only  intellectually  weak  or  apa- 
thetic, but  otherwise  good-natured  and  very  available 
for  mechanical  farm-work  and  other  manual  services, 
because  their  will  and  industry  are  sufficient  and  their 
passions  weak. 

There  is  still  another  developmental  weakness, 
which  manifests  itself  as  asthenia  or  irritable  weak- 
ness, with  all  sorts  of  nervousness,  a  tendency  to 
cramps,  hyperesthesia,  mental  distress  ("  anxiety  "), 
abnormal  precocity  in  certain  spheres,  and  so  forth, 
and  which  arrests  children  in  their  development.  In 
such  cases,  the  feeble-mindedness  is  often  more  func- 
tional than  organic,  though  an  abnormally  irritable 
disposition  of  the  central  nervous  system  can  be  in- 
herited. Here  a  sound  upbringing  can  correct  much. 
There  are  also  real  mental  disturbances  or  psychoses 
of  childhood  which  appear  and  subside  in  much  the 
same  way  as  with  adults;  but  they  always  greatly 
endanger  the  subsequent  mental  development. 
Amongst  these  epilepsy,  hysteria,  and  hypochondria 
are  most  important. 

There  are  also  constitutional  weaknesses  and  dis- 


1 76        PA THOLOGY  OF  THE  NER VO US  LIFE 

eases  which  appear  in  the  sphere  of  the  subordinate 
brain  centres  and  of  the  peripheral  nerves  and  injure 
their  functions  and  arrest  development.  These  in- 
clude certain  failings  of  speech,  great  lack  of  skill  for 
elementary  bodily  exercises  and  technical  dexterities 
(though  the  seat  of  this  is  usually  in  the  cerebrum), 
undeveloped  gait  or  sensory  functions — in  short,  all 
sorts  of  inferiorities  and  defects  such  as  one  notices 
in  himself  and  his  acquaintances,  but  which  we  cannot 
enumerate  here. 

Group    II — Inherited    Mental    and    Nervous 

Diseases 

The  diseases  of  this  group,  which  can  be  desig- 
nated as  "  Constitutional  Disturbances"  often  can- 
not be  sharply  distinguished  from  those  of  the 
previous  group,  especially  imbecility,  from  which 
they  are  particularly  hard  to  distinguish.  Koch  has 
called  them  "  psychopathic  inferiorities " ;  but 
amongst  them  there  are  also  one-sided  "  superiorities." 
To  avoid  repetition,  let  us  say  at  once  that  in  the  first 
place  the  group  includes  all  forms  of  imbecility  whose 
cause  is  not  to  be  sought  in  diseases  of  the  embryo  or 
of  childhood  but  in  inherited  abnormalities  of  the 
germ  plasm.  For  the  rest,  it  is  practically  impossi- 
ble in  every  case  of  the  sort  to  separate  what  is  purely 
hereditary  from  what  is  acquired  in  the  course  of  de- 
velopment; both  groups  of  factors  usually  work  to- 
gether to  engender  a  product  as  unfortunate  for  the 
individual  himself  as  for  society.     What  is  abnormal 


SYNOPSIS  OF  DISEASES  177 

here  is  thus  the  original  disposition.  Through  train- 
ing and  the  relations  of  life  this  bad  disposition  can 
be  strengthened,  i.  e.,  made  worse,  or,  if  it  is  not  too 
powerful  and  one-sided,  it  can  be  more  or  less  success- 
fully combated  and  dammed  back.  Let  us  look  now 
at  the  most  important  of  those  pronouncedly  patho- 
logical characters, — for  with  such  we  are  concerned. 
Pronounced  imbecility  in  one  of  the  principal 
spheres  of  psychology — intellect,  feeling,  or  will — 
produces  a  corresponding  pathological  formation  of 
character.  As  such  we  have  already  mentioned,  in 
our  discussion  of  imbecility,  inherited  weakness  of 
judgment,  intellectual  weakness  in  general,  moral 
and  aesthetic  feeble-mindedness,  and  abulia,  as  well  as 
the  impulsive  and  the  asthenic  weakness  of  will.  In 
contrast  to  moral  imbecility,  there  is  a  peculiar  path- 
ological disposition  with  an  exaggerated  development 
of  conscience  or  altruism,  and  pathological  con- 
scientiousness and  regard  for  others.  There  are  peo- 
ple whose  conscientiousness  or  feeling  of  duty  is  so 
exaggerated  that  in  their  continual  painful  efforts  to 
fulfil  their  duties  towards  their  neighbours  they  most 
sadly  neglect  their  duties  towards  themselves;  in 
order  to  do  good  to  others  they  ill-use  themselves 
bodily  and  mentally,  allow  themselves  neither  food 
nor  rest,  and  often  completely  degrade  themselves  for 
the  sake  of  others  who  only  regard  them  as  objects 
of  exploitation  and  bring  them  to  utter  ruin.  They 
are  victims  of  their  pathological  altruism.  Others 
degenerate  into  religious  and  moral  fanatics,  devote 
12 


178         PATHOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  LIFE 

health  and  means  to  an  injudicious,  exaggerated 
ideal,  and  at  last  go  to  grief  mentally  or  financially. 
With  such  people  unselfishness  degenerates  on  oc- 
casion into  crass  intolerance,  since  they  wish  to  ex- 
tend to  others  the  exaggerated  strictness  that  they 
exercise  toward  themselves.  So,  through  irony  of 
fate,  pathological  altruism  can  be  turned  about  into 
ethical  perversion.  In  the  case  of  many  people  who 
are  falsely  regarded  as  conscious  hypocrites,  self- 
mortification  and  pathological  altruism  are  united 
with  secret  perversions  or  excesses  of  some  special 
impulse,  especially  the  sexual. 

Desequilibres  (unbalanced)  is  a  term  used  by  the 
French  to  indicate  those  pathological  natures  who 
lack  balance  in  this  or  that  or  in  many  respects,  and 
whose  thought  and  feeling  and  will  are  generally  un- 
steady and  without  proper  measure.  The  modern 
term  psychasthenic  or  mental  irritable  weakness,  can 
also  be  used  in  the  description  of  such  cases. 

Sexual  Abnormalities.  Only  in  the  most  rare  and 
unimportant  cases  are  these  dependent  upon  disturb- 
ances of  the  sexual  organs,  especially  of  the  glands. 
They  are  usually  due  to  a  more  or  less  abnormal  and 
strongly  hereditary  sexual  disposition  in  the  brain 
itself  and  to  individual  habits  of  sexual  indulgence. 
To  be  sure,  when  infants  are  castrated,  or  deprived 
of  their  sexual  glands,  the  development  of  sexual  ex- 
citability in  the  brain  is  completely  arrested,  but  never 
when  the  castration  takes  place  after  puberty. 
Eunuchs  (castrated  in  infancy)  develop  a  good  deal 


S  YNOPSIS  OF  DISEA  SES  1 7  9 

like  women,  with  a  high  childish  voice,  no  beard,  and 
other  such  characteristics.  Of  abnormal  inherited 
sexual  tendencies  there  is  a  vast  number,  but  the 
following  are  the  principal  kinds: 

1.  Excessive  and  Premature  Development  (with 
either  sex).  Corresponding  to  this  there  is  a  pre- 
mature development,  even  with  children  from  seven 
to  nine  years  old,  of  predominating  sexual  ideas  and 
corresponding  impulses. 

2.  The  Lack,  or  Abnormally  Slight  Develop- 
ment, of  Sexual  Impulse.  When  this  impulse  is 
totally  lacking  (in  spite  of  completely  normal  glands 
and  cells),  sexual  images  are  generally  lacking  also. 
With  men  this  is  very  rare ;  but  with  women,  who  are 
naturally  more  passive  in  their  sexual  relations,  it  is 
very  frequent  and  scarcely  to  be  regarded  as 
abnormal. 

Sexual  abnormalities  include  cases  in  which  the 
impulse  has  an  abnormal  object.  First  amongst 
these  is  a  sexual  impulse  towards  others  of  the  same 
sex,  then  an  impulse  towards  every  possible  sort  of 
fetish,  women's  skirts  or  pigtails,  animals,  or  inani- 
mate things,  as  well  as  all  abnormalities  in  otherwise 
normally  directed  sexual  impulses,  such  as  a  man 
wanting  a  woman  to  pound  him,  or  wanting  to  hurt 
her,  a  mania  for  immature  girls  or  for  smutty  talk. 

Onanism  or  self-pollution  is  by  no  means  always 
an  abnormality,  but  for  the  most  part  only  a  make- 
shift bred  of  imitation  and  habit,  for  the  satisfac- 
tion of  sexual  desire  when  normal  means  are  not  at 


i So        PATHOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  LIFE 

hand.  But  it  can  also  rest,  though  this  is  rare,  on 
an  inherited  perversion  of  instinct.  All  sexual  ab- 
normalities and  weaknesses  have  a  strong  tendency 
to  be  increased  through  habit  and  repetition.  In- 
deed they  can  often  arise  through  example  and  mis- 
guidance or  erotic  stimulations.  Strong  sexual 
excitability  brings  endlessly  more  harm  than  the  op- 
posite defect.  For  this  reason  it  is  a  principal  rule 
of  hygiene  to  suppress  the  sexual  impulse  as  much  as 
possible,  or  at  least  to  exercise  the  greatest  modera- 
tion in  its  satisfaction,  and  to  devote  one's  self  to 
more  useful  spheres  of  existence.  We  will  not  deny 
that  in  many  cases  disturbances  of  the  lower  nerve 
centres  for  the  sexual  organs  play  a  part,  but  this  is 
the  exception. 

Hypochondria  rests  on  a  strong  inherited  tendency 
to  anxious,  uneasy  observation  of  one's  self,  espe- 
cially of  one's  body.  This  produces  a  crowd  of  auto- 
suggestions of  symptoms  of  diseases  which  are  really 
not  present.  The  hypochondriac  is  always  busying 
himself  with  his  health,  and  so  his  brain  engenders 
diseased  products,  such  as  pains,  paresthesias  of  all 
sorts,  arrests  of  movement,  and  in  short  disturbances 
in  the  whole  realm  of  nervous  disease;  and  of  course 
the  hypochondriac  believes  that  he  suffers  from  every 
imaginable  bodily  disease,  because  he  feels  and  un- 
dergoes the  symptoms,  exactly  as  though  a  real 
organic  trouble  were  present.1  Every  attempt  to 
treat     the     hypochondriacal     symptoms     medically 

1  See  Chapter  VI. — Nervous  Disturbances, 


SYNOPSIS  OF  DISEASES 


iöi 


strengthens  them  and  makes  them  worse.  Only  one 
thing  can  help:  distraction  through  pleasant,  useful, 
interesting  work.  If  the  hypochondria  is  not  too  old 
and  not  too  deeply  constitutional,  it  can  be  im- 
proved in  this  way  and  sometimes  cured.  Unfor- 
tunately the  hypochondriac  is  incessantly  driven  by 
his  anxious  uneasiness  from  one  attempted  cure  to 
another,  and  thus  becomes  a  voluntary  milch-cow  for 
all  licensed  and  unlicensed  swindlers.  Hypochondria 
is  the  principal  ingredient  in  the  omnium-gatherum 
of  diseases  thrown  together  nowadays  under  the 
name  Neurasthenia.  It  is  an  eminently  hereditary 
disease,  resting  on  a  pathological  disposition  of  the 
germinal  constitution,  although  it  often  does  not 
break  out  plainly  until  later  years. 

Insistent  Ideas  and  Impulses.  Certain  ideas  im- 
press themselves  continually  on  otherwise  sensible 
people  and  often  worry  them  until  they  are  sick  of 
life,  such  as  the  idea  that  one's  spelling  is  wrong,  or 
that  hairs,  which  disgust  him  deeply,  are  sticking  to 
his  clothes.  Or  perhaps  it  is  in  the  motor  sphere,  and 
then  his  ideas  take  the  form  of  imperative  impulses  or 
forced  acts,  such  as  smashing  things  or  boxing  peo- 
ple's ears.  If  it  is  his  feelings  that  are  affected, 
especially  feelings  of  anxiety,  then  we  speak  of 
phobias  (such  as  fear  of  an  empty  room,  fear  of 
places,  spiders,  mice,  etc. ) .  For  the  more  general, 
less  morbid  desires  or  dislikes  of  individuals  with  ref- 
erence to  particular  things  we  use  the  term  idiosyn- 
crasies.    I  saw  a  girl  whose  life  was  a  burden  because 


1 82      PATHOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  LIFE 

she  could  never  see  a  doll  without  becoming  so  fear- 
fully afraid  that  it  would  cry  that  she  would  run 
away  as  from  the  devil  incarnate.  The  idiosyncrasy 
may  consist  merely  of  nausea  or  an  unconscious  nerv- 
ous reaction   (without  anxiety). 

Constitutional  Abnormalities  of  Mood  (Verstim- 
mungen) .  Many  people  remain  continually  under 
the  preponderating  influence  of  a  strongly-marked 
and  exaggerated  mood,  which  rests  on  a  pathological 
disposition  and  is  abnormal  because  it  is  for  the  most 
part  without  external  occasion.  The  moods  include 
sadness  and  melancholy,  sensitiveness,  hate,  jealousy, 
suspicion,  or,  on  the  other  side,  good  spirits  and  mirth- 
fulness  or  heedless  optimism.  The  morbid  circum- 
stance is  that  the  moods  are  not  at  all  fitted  to  the 
real  state  of  affairs :  a  man  is  not  normal  if  he  laughs 
and  does  not  trouble  about  anything  in  the  midst  of 
the  deepest  misfortune,  or  sighs  distressfully  or  even 
weeps  and  grows  desperate  in  the  height  of  pros- 
perity, or  continually  responds  to  friendly  ap- 
proaches with  repellent  suspicion  or  jealousy.  When 
any  one  is  constitutionally  out  of  tune  such  reactions 
as  these  are  a  part  of  the  general  character,  and  for 
this  very  reason  the  character  is  abnormal.  In  other 
cases  there  is  a  mere  supersensitiveness  of  feeling  in 
all  directions,  or,  on  the  contrary,  an  apathetic  dul- 
ness,  to  which  we  have  already  referred.  In  still 
others  there  is  a  periodical,  "  circular  "  exchange  of 
emotional  condition,  under  the  influence  of  which  a 
person  can  appear  cheerful,  enterprising,  optimistic, 


SYNOPSIS  OF  DISEASES  183 

and  active  for  six  months  at  a  time,  and  in  the  next 
six  months  be  obstructed,  sad,  and  pessimistic. 
These  pathological  rotations  of  moods  are  commoner 
than  we  think.  If  the  trouble  becomes  a  regular 
mental  disturbance,  then  it  develops  into  what  is 
known  as  circular  insanity  (melancholia  alternating 
with  mania).  There  are  many  other  peculiarities  of 
character  which  are  widely  spread  and  well  known  in 
human  society  but  not  abnormal  when  they  are  only 
moderately  developed,  though  they  become  decidedly 
pathological  when  they  have  an  exaggerated  one- 
sided development.  I  name  the  spendthrift,  the 
niggard,  the  fanatic,  the  visionary,  the  obstinate  dog- 
matist and  "  kicker,"  the  phlegmatic,  the  vagabond, 
the  malicious  old  gossip,  the  schemer,  the  idle  fop,  and 
empty  people  in  general.  To  enumerate  all  possible 
peculiarities  would  lengthen  the  list  tenfold. 

But  the  pathological  swindler  or  imaginative  liar 
deserves  special  mention.  He  lies  best  who  deceives 
himself  by  confusing  the  products  of  his  fancy  with 
realities.  He  believes  in  his  lies  wholly  or  partly, 
permanently  or  temporarily,  no  less  than  the  famous 
Tartarin  of  Tarascon  in  Alphonse  Daudet's  well- 
known  story.  False  memories  constantly  disturb 
his  reproductive  faculty.  Since  he  plunges  with  his 
whole  attention,  his  whole  ego,  into  the  deceptive 
creations  of  his  fancy  in  such  a  way  that  they  become 
realities  to  him,  this  gives  him  such  an  assured  ap- 
pearance, and  he  presents  his  humbugs  and  swindles 
so  ingenuously  and  naturally,  with  such  an  innocent 


1 84        PA  THOLOG  Y  OF  THE  NER  VO  US  LIFE 

expression  or  with  such  unfeigned  enthusiasm,  that 
he  succeeds  again  and  again  in  convincing  his  fel- 
lowmen,  where  a  conscious  liar,  who  coolly  and 
clearly  measures  his  words,  in  constant  fear  of  con- 
tradicting himself  or  being  trapped,  meets  with 
instinctive  mistrust.  In  the  consciousness  of  the  com- 
mon or  normal  liar  two  trains  of  thought  flow  be- 
side each  other,  the  thought  of  the  truth  and  the 
thought  of  the  lie,  and  they  trip  each  other  up.  In 
the  brain  of  the  imaginative  liar  all  is  unified,  and  so 
he  can  carry  through  the  most  magnificent  swindles 
artistically  and  with  inner  conviction.  Thus  he 
drags  a  multitude  of  credulous  souls  with  him  to  ruin. 
The  public  believes  blindly  in  his  alluring  portrayals, 
his  poetic  effusions,  until  at  last  some  chance  or  the 
reflection  of  a  thoughtful  man  brings  the  end  with 
panic,  and  usually  a  sensation  in  the  courts.1  Then, 
as  though  wakening  from  a  dream,  the  pathological 
swindler  collapses  for  the  moment  almost  as  aston- 
ished and  dismayed  as  his  victims — only  to  soon  be- 
gin again,  for  he  cannot  help  himself.  His  whole 
life  long  one  fata  morgana,,  one  mirage,,  makes  way 
for  another. 

Finally  we  must  speak  of  hysteria,  which  has  no- 
thing to  do  with  the  uterus  [as  the  derivation  of  the 
word  implies]  and  everything  to  do  with  the  brain. 
A  woman  or  man  is  hysterical  if  his  various  thoughts, 

1  The  celebrated  Therese  Humbert  who  was  tried  in  Paris  for  a  swindle 
involving  millions,  to  judge  by  all  appearances  and  especially  by  her 
answers  in  the  judicial  examination,  was  in  the  main  a  pathological 
swindler. 


SYNOPSIS  OF  DISEASES  185 

which  are  normally  balanced  against  each  other,  are 
very  easily  dissociated,  so  that  the  neurokym  lying  at 
the  base  of  individual,  dissociated  ideas  is  in  a  condi- 
dition  to  increase  powerfully  and  produce  unusual 
inhibitions  and  nervous  connections  {Bahnungen). 
As  a  result  of  such  dissociations  it  is  possible  for  some 
overpowering  feeling  or  idea  to  call  forth  various 
kinds  of  permanent  paralyses,  cramps,  anaesthesias ; 
hyperesthesias,  pains,  and  all  sorts  of  other  symptoms 
of  disease,  fits  of  rage,  sexual  abnormalities,  inhibi- 
tions, or  strong  irritations,  but  also,  on  the  other  side, 
ingenious  pieces  of  work,  the  healing  of  these  very 
diseases,  enthusiasm  for  the  good,  self-sacrifice, 
heroic  deeds,  and,  in  short,  everything  that  the  human 
brain  can  prevent  or  produce.  Hysteria  as  a  dis- 
position of  the  brain  is  to  some  extent  a  two-edged 
sword.  It  engenders  an  untold  amount  of  evil 
and  many,  misunderstandings,  and  yet  delivers  from 
many  sufferings, — and  is  misunderstood  by  very 
many  physicians.  Hysterical  persons,  misled  or 
otherwise  badly  moulded,  can  become  devils;  but  if 
they  are  well-led  or  of  noble  nature,  they  are  often 
angels  or  heroes,  like  the  Maid  of  Orleans.  Hysteria 
is  almost  a  world  in  itself.  Unfortunately  it  com- 
bines in  many  ways  with  all  the  other  abnormalities 
which  we  have  enumerated  and  becomes  a  sore  calam- 
ity for  those  who  surround  the  patients,  even  more, 
almost,  than  for  the  patients  themselves.  The  hy- 
giene of  hysteria  consists  in  making  a  rational  use  of 
their  pathological  dissociability  or  suggestibility  for 


1 86         PA  THOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  LIFE 

good.  But  we  must  not  misunderstand  the  nature 
of  hysteria  and  apply  the  name  to  a  host  of  mental 
disturbances  which  have  nothing  or  very  little  to  do 
with  it. 

We  have  seen  already  that  no  sharp  line  can  be 
drawn  between  any  constitutional  mental  and  nerv- 
ous abnormality  and  the  normal.  What  is  incurable 
in  all  alike  is  the  constitutional  tendency.  Yet  this 
is  usually  not  too  strong  to  be  combated  and  dammed 
in,  or  weakened  (strengthened  in  the  case  of  de- 
ficiencies ) ,  or  at  least  turned  into  less  harmful  paths 
by  good  contrary  habits.  Nay,  now  and  then  in- 
deed, as  with  hysteria,  these  tendencies  can  be  turned 
to  great  social  uses.  Psychotherapeutics,  or  sugges- 
tive therapeutics  (the  exertion  of  functional  influ- 
ences upon  the  brain  life),  here  takes  the  place  of 
nerve  hygiene. 

There  are  also  constitutional  inherited  weaknesses 
or  irritabilities  in  the  sense-organs,  in  the  spinal  cord, 
and  elsewhere,  such  as  weakness  of  vision  and  other 
abnormalities  of  the  eye,  irritable  conditions  of  the 
spinal  cord  (spinal  irritability  with  muscular  quiv- 
ers ) ,  constitutional  reflex  disturbances,  such  as 
'  tics,"  or  nystagmus ;  but  in  all  of  these  a  certain  ab- 
normality of  brain-function  generally  plays  a  part. 

Group    III. — Acquired    Mental    and    Nervous 

Diseases 

In  so  far  as  the  diseases  of  this  group  are  not  caused 
exclusively  by  wounds,  poisoning,  bacterial  infec- 
tion, or  shrinking,  of  the  nerves,  they  develop,  as  a 


SYNOPSIS  OF  DISEASES  187 

rule,  on  hereditary  soil,  and  so  are  related  to  the  fore- 
going groups  and  bound  up  with  them  in  many  ways. 
The  main  difference  is  that  the  pathological  condi- 
tions mentioned  in  the  second  group  concern  the  in- 
herited disposition  itself,  while  the  conditions  which 
we  are  now  to  discuss  have  an  acute  origin  in  the  life 
of  the  individual,  whether  this  be  from  external  in- 
juries or  from  some  action  of  the  brain  itself,  due  to 
its  abnormal  inherited  tendencies.  In  the  latter  case, 
the  action  of  a  sickly  brain  slowly  prepares  the  cata- 
strophe, which  is  then  called  a  neurokym  storm. 

In  the  present  state  of  our  knowledge  it  is  not  al- 
ways possible  to  make  a  sharper  or  more  thorough- 
going distinction  than  this  between  the  functional 
and  the  organic. 

A.  Epilepsy.  Epilepsy,  or  the  falling  sickness, 
is  well  known,  unusually  dependent  on  hereditary 
tendencies,  and  very  common  in  youth;  for  which 
reasons  it  is  very  nearly  related  to  the  two  preceding 
groups.  Besides  the  common  falling  fits  with  sud- 
den loss  of  consciousness  and  clonic  cramps,  the  dis- 
ease also  develops  mental  disturbances  which  are 
often  of  long  duration  and  may  amount  to  raving 
madness,  though  the  patients  usually  have  little  or 
no  recollection  (amnesia)  of  them.  By  ''masked 
epilepsy"  (epilepsie  larvee)  we  mean  attacks 
of  vertigo  which  last  a  few  seconds  without  con- 
vulsions and  without  falling.  When  epilepsy 
appears  in  youth  it  usually  arrests  the  mental  develop- 
ment and  leads  to  stupefaction  and  moral  defect. 


1 88        PA  THOLOG  Y  OF  THE  NER  VO  US  LIFE 

With  old  cases  we  find  a  hardening  of  the 
external  layer  of  the  brain  cortex,  though  it  is 
not  clear  whether  this  is  the  cause  of  the  disease  or  the 
result.  But  there  are  certain  forms  of  epilepsy  which 
are  caused  by  inflammation  in  the  centres  or  by  in- 
juries to  the  brain.  The  use  of  alcohol  strengthens 
epilepsy  and  promotes  the  attacks;  it  may  also  lead 
to  the  disease. 

B.  Functional  Psychoses.  The  term  Maniacal 
Depressive  Insanity  (manisch-depressives  Irresein, 
Kraepelin)  is  used  to  include  both  mania,  or  acute 
attacks  of  emotional  excitement  (Willensaufregung) 
accompanied  by  a  mad  rush  of  ideas  (Gedanken- 
flucht) and  excessive  happiness,  and  melancholia 
where  all  the  functions  are  obstructed  and  the  patient 
suffers  extreme  sadness  and  perhaps  '  anxiety." 
The  attacks  of  mania  and  melancholia  are  curable,  but 
have  a  great  tendency  to  repeat  themselves  or  to  be- 
come periodic. 

Paranoia  (Verrücktheit)  is  almost  always  incura- 
ble. It  is  a  delusion  of  persecution  worked  out  with 
great  consistency  and  accompanied  by  delusions  of 
grandeur  and  a  progressive  ethical  deficiency, 
though  the  mind  remains  relatively  clear.  Para- 
noiacs  are  at  the  same  time  dangerous  and  capable  of 
work,  and  pass  with  the  laity  as  mentally  sound  be- 
cause their  conduct  is  orderly  and  they  often  conceal 
their  delusions.  Querulants  are  parpnoiacs  whose 
delusions  of  ill-treatment  retain  the  character  of  the 
possible  and  are  accompanied  by  a  diseased  mania 


SYNOPSIS  OF  DISEASES  189 

for  getting  one's  rights  through  the  law  courts,  so 
that  the  patient  spends  his  life  in  endless  lawsuits. 
Often  the  delusion  originates  from  some  unimportant 
injustice  which  he  actually  suffered.  Congenital 
paranoiacs  are  persons  who  showed  more  or  less 
tendency  to  delusions  of  persecution  and  grandeur 
even  in  childhood.  These  can  also  be  arranged  in  our 
second  group  and  amongst  them  it  is  especially  true 
that  there  is  every  grade  of  transition  to  the  normal. 
Acquired  Dementia-Processes  (Verblödungspro- 
zesse, Kraepelin).  There  are  a  large  number  of 
acquired  mental  diseases  which  begin  at  first  with 
serious  symptoms  (such  as  hallucinations,  delusions, 
false  memories,  associational  disturbances,  catalepsy) , 
accompanied  or  unaccompanied  with  depression  or 
elevation  of  spirits,  and  after  a  more  or  less  prolonged 
course  go  over  into  incurable  and  usually  very  deep 
dementia.  Such  cases  fill  the  lunatic  asylums.  Kahl- 
baum,  Hecker,  and  Kraepelin  have  applied  to  them 
the  names  Hebephrenia  (a  rapid  dementia  with  peo- 
ple still  quite  young),  Catatonia  (involving  catalepsy 
and  "  perturbation,"  i.  e.,  an  abnormal  restlessness 
and  confusion),  Dementia  Praecox  (an  early  demen- 
tia), Dementia  Paranoides  (the  same  dementia 
following  paranoia)  ;  and  have  very  properly  dis- 
tinguished them  from  mania,  melancholia,  and 
paranoia  (Verrücktheit).  Yet  there  are  cases 
amongst  them  which  are  cured  (especially  with  cata- 
tonia) ,  as  well  as  transitional  conditions  to  the  forms 
just  mentioned» 


i9o        PATHOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  LIFE 

Functional  Neuroses.  There  are  a  set  of  painful 
diseases  and  motor  disturbances  of  a  functional  sort, 
without  mental  disturbance  and  yet  frequently  de- 
pendent upon  the  cerebrum.  Such  are  migraine 
and  many  other  headaches,  also  other  neuralgias,  and 
pains  such  as  sciatica,  lumbago,  and  akinesia  algera 
(painful  cramp).  Many  of  these  can  be  called 
pseudo-rheumatism.  In  the  motor  field  we  can 
name  nystagmus,  writing  cramps,  speech  cramps 
(stuttering),  St.  Vitus's  dance,  athetosa  (a  definite 
sort  of  trembling,  which,  however,  usually  or  at 
least  very  often  flows  from  organic  disturbances  of 
the  brain),  tetanus  (attacks  of  tonic  muscular 
cramps ) ,  apraxia,  astasia,  abasia,  etc.  The  number 
of  functional  nervous  disturbances  in  the  realm  of 
feeling  (of  pain)  and  of  movement  is  very  great. 
For  the  most  part  they  rest  more  or  less  on  irrita- 
tions or  stimulations  of  the  cerebrum  and  can  be  re- 
moved again  by  similar  causes  (through  suggestion) 
but  by  no  means  always,  and  it  is  often  very  difficult 
to  find  out  where  the  harmful  stimulus  originates. 
This  may  be  in  conditions  on  the  surface  of  the  body. 
Thus  there  are  migraines  which  are  caused  by  an 
anomaly  in  the  shape  of  the  cornea  (astigmatism), 
because  the  disturbance  of  sight  overtaxes  the  sen- 
sory and  motor  nerves  of  the  eye  and  causes  unhealthy 
reactions.  On  the  other  hand,  the  same  or  quite 
similar  nervous  disturbances  can  be  called  out  entirely 
from  the  brain  by  strong  emotional  impressions  such 
as  fright  or  by  autosuggestion.     In  this  way  mental 


SYNOPSIS  OF  DISEASES  191 

disturbances  of  the  more  general  sort  set  up  reflex 
localised  disturbances  and,  on  the  other  hand,  though 
much  more  rarely,  can  be  set  up  by  them. 

C.  Poisonings  of  the  Nervous  System.  Nutri- 
tive materials  include  all  substances  which  when 
taken  into  the  body  enter  into  chemical  combinations 
with  the  protoplasm  and  serve  to  build  it  up  or  to 
preserve  its  vital  functions.  It  was  formerly  laid 
down  as  a  dogma  that  a  part  of  the  nutritive  material 
is  simply  burned  up  in  the  body  as  a  generator  of 
force  without  becoming  a  real  constituent  part  of  the 
living  protoplasm  even  for  a  short  period.  But  this 
dogma  continually  shows  itself  more  and  more  false, 
for  the  products  of  protoplasmic  decomposition  and 
the  use  of  nutritive  material  for  its  repair  can  be 
demonstrated  everywhere,  though  we  cannot  demon- 
strate anywhere  a  mere  combustion  without  a  pre- 
vious use  as  cell  material  (Kassowitz).  Now  when 
a  nutritive  material  is  turned  into  the  living  proto- 
plasm it  must  not  injure  it.     If  it  does  it  is  a  poison. 

There  are  poisons  which  come  from  without  and, 
as  modern  investigations  have  shown,  poisons  or 
toxins  which  are  formed  in  the  body  itself  through 
the  accumulation  of  catabolic  products.  Yet  all  we 
know  about  the  chemistry  of  the  animal  tissue  is 
based  upon  the  chemical  combinations  that  are  found 
in  dead  bodies,  and  in  the  catabolic  products  (ex- 
creta) of  life.  The  chemistry  of  life  itself  is  still  an 
absolute  riddle  for  whose  solution  we  possess  only 
doubtful    hypotheses.     Consequently    the    only    ap- 


i92        PATHOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  LIFE 

propriate  definition  of  what  can  be  called  nutritive 
material  is  purely  practical: 

Nutritive  materials  (or  foods)  are  all  substances 
which  have  shown  themselves  to  be  fitted  by  a  long 
phylogenetic  process  of  adaptation  for  the  building 
up  of  the  human  body  and  the  support  of  its  func- 
tions, and  by  the  use  of  which  experience  shows  that 
the  body  flourishes  without  any  symptoms  of  poison- 
ing. To  these  belong  water,  most  albuminous  bodies, 
starchy  meals,  fats,  sugar,  and  vegetable  salts,  as 
contained  in  fruits,  vegetables,  roots,  cereals,  and  in 
animal  foods.  The  statement  that  a  poison  can  be 
at  the  same  time  a  food  is  a  mere  playing  with  words. 
To  be  sure,  many  poisons  dissolved  in  the  body  can 
form  fat  and  produce  some  phenomena  similar  to  the 
effects  of  foods;  yet  as  soon  as  they  produce  a  tem- 
porary or  permanent  injury  in  the  vital  functions  or 
the  anatomical  constitution  of  the  protoplasm  they 
can  be  called  foods  no  longer.  On  the  other  side  also, 
many  of  the  best  foods,  when  eaten  to  excess  so  as 
to  over-feed  the  tissues,  can  form  toxins  and  thus  act 
as  poisons  indirectly;  but  that  is  a  different  matter 
and  can  be  avoided  by  moderation  in  eating  and  by 
reasonable  exercise.  Certain  chemical  substances 
have  a  poisonous  effect  with  some  animals  but  not 
with  others.  With  these,  perhaps,  we  may  think  of 
the  possibility  of  a  gradual  accommodation,  but 
never  with  those  substances  which,  like  alcohol,  act 
as  a  protoplasmic  poison  with  all  living  organisms 
everywhere.       What     now    has     experience     shown 


SYNOPSIS  OF  DISEASES  193 

to  be  the  principal  poisons  for  the  nervous 
system  ? 

There  are  two  sorts  of  poisons:  (1)  Those  which 
are  easily  dissolved  or  decomposed  and  thus  soon 
disappear  from  the  system.  Yet  if  these  poisons 
are  frequently  repeated  they  can  leave  lasting  dis- 
turbances behind  them.  Thus  when  they  are  taken 
for  the  first  time  they  cause  acute  poisoning  (i.  e., 
sudden,  more  or  less  severe,  but  temporary)  ;  but 
when  they  are  regularly  repeated  the  poisoning  is 
chronic,  i.  e.,  permanent  and  slowly  progressive,  con- 
ditioned by  an  accumulation  of  lasting  reflex  effects. 
(2)  Poisons  hard  to  dissolve  or  decompose,  mostly 
metals,  whose  effect  is  slowly  progressive  from  the 
beginning  and  very  chronic. 

(1)  Poisons  easily  soluble.  These  include  a  large 
number  of  more  or  less  rare  poisons,  like  coal  gas  or 
poisonous  mushrooms,  which  are  usually  taken  into 
the  system  by  accident  or  mistake  and  generally  act 
upon  the  nervous  system  by  paralysing  or  stimulat- 
ing its  functions,  more  rarely  by  decomposing  its 
material.  They  act  once  for  all.  Such  poisons  are 
also  used  for  murderous  or  suicidal  ends.  The  re- 
sult is  either  death  or  a  cure ;  they  seldom  leave  a  last- 
ing effect  behind  them;  yet  often  there  are  mental 
disturbances  (usually  incoherence)  and  paralyses 
which  last  for  weeks.  Such  poisons  are  relatively 
unimportant,  because  people  are  very  much  afraid  of 
them  and  avoid  them. 

Tremendously  important,  on  the  contrary,  is  the 
13 


T94        PATHOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  LIFE 

whole  class  of  narcotic  poisons,  especially  those 
amongst  them  whose  habitual  use  has  unfortunately 
become  or  threatens  to  become  a  custom.  The  worst 
of  these  are  alcohol,  opium,  morphia,  ether,  cocain, 
and  Indian  hemp.  At  first  they  all  cause  a  pleasant 
acute  poisoning  of  the  brain,  which  dulls  or  inhibits 
strong,  painful  sensations,  gives  the  illusion  of  hap- 
piness or  good  fortune,  in  its  first  period  often  causes 
a  certain  excitation  in  the  motor  field,  agreeably 
titillates  lower  impulses  and  feelings,  but  at  the  same 
time  injures  the  associations,  the  judgment  and  dis- 
cretion, consistent  willing,  and  the  finer  ethical  and 
aesthetic  feelings.  Moreover  all  these  poisons  in 
common  have  the  property  of  engendering  an  appe- 
tite or  pathological  desire,  of  different  strength  with 
different  people,  for  repeated  poisoning  and  larger 
doses.  In  this  way  their  use  is  spread  in  society  and 
their  effects  on  individuals  are  strengthened.  They 
lead  to  regular  poisoning  epidemics.  At  the  same 
time  their  repeated  use  produces  a  slow  degeneration 
of  the  central  nervous  system  and  often  of  other 
tissues  too,  and  a  slow  protracted  sickliness,  though  to 
be  sure  these  effects  develop  so  slowly  when  the  doses 
are  small  and  can  proceed  with  such  slight  visible  dis- 
turbances that  society  gets  accustomed  to  it  and  does 
not  notice  the  inferiority  which  it  produces.  Yet 
with  stronger  doses  the  chronic  poisoning  leads  to 
deep  changes  of  character,  amounting  sometimes  to 
complete  mental  alienation  or  even  dementia.  The 
chronic  use  of  narcotics  (such  as  alcohol,  morphium, 


SYNOPSIS  OF  DISEASES  195 

or  opium)  makes  people  more  or  less  cowardly, 
brutal,  and  ethically  defective  according  to  the  na- 
ture of  the  poison;  while  the  acute  poisoning  (the 
drunken  fit)  is  like  a  temporary  insanity.  Yet  the 
worst  of  all  is  the  fact  that  acute  and  chronic  poison- 
ing from  alcohol  in  particular,  assuredly  affects  the 
reproductive  glands  and  makes  the  germs  there  de- 
generate, so  that  the  next  generation  is  more  or 
less  crippled  according  to  the  extent  of  the  social 
poisoning  (see  further  below).  A  large  part  of  the 
diseases  and  abnormalities  of  the  nervous  system 
already  enumerated  in  the  first,  second,  and  third 
groups  is  undoubtedly  the  indirect  product  of  chronic 
narcotic  germ  poisoning  on  the  part  of  previous  gen- 
erations. This  is  true  to  the  highest  degree  with 
idiocy  and  epilepsy,  but  true  also  with  the  hereditary 
psychoses  and  neuroses.  By  far  the  most  important 
role  in  the  poisoning  of  the  civilised  world  is  played 
by  alcohol  (in  China  by  opium).  Acute  alcoholic 
poisoning  is  intoxication;  the  chronic  poisoning, 
chronic  alcoholism.  Delirium  tremens  is  a  mental 
disturbance  which  often  results  from  chronic  alco- 
holism. But  there  are  also  alcoholic  epilepsy,  alco- 
holic nervous  paralysis,  neuralgias,  shrinking  of  the 
optic  nerve,  melancholias,  manias,  delirium,  and  even 
shrinking  of  the  brain  accompanied  by  dementia. 
There  has  also  been  observed  a  serious  mental  dis- 
turbance (Korsakow's  psychosis)  which  arises  from 
so-called  polyneuritis,  L  e.,  from  repeated  nervous  in- 
flammations almost  always  caused  by  alcohol.     More 


196         PATHOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  LIFE 

than  half  the  crimes  are  performed  under  the  in- 
fluence of  alcoholic  poisoning,  especially  indecent 
assaults.  Alcoholic  poisoning  very  often  causes  ab- 
normalities in  the  sexual  impulse.  In  the  fifteen 
largest  cities  of  Switzerland,  a  third  of  the  suicides 
amongst  males  and  a  tenth  of  the  fatal  accidents  to 
males  over  twenty  years  old  are  due  to  alcohol.  From 
about  twenty  to  thirty -five  per  cent,  of  the  male 
patients  admitted  into  the  Swiss  lunatic  asylums  have 
been  directly  affected  mentally  by  alcohol.  It  is  the 
same  ethyl-alcohol  which  is  particularly  poisonous  in 
brandy,  wine,  beer,  and  cider,  and  brings  about  the 
phenomena  of  social  pathology  which  we  have  de- 
picted. With  us  up  to  the  present  time  people  have 
not  known  much  better  than  to  preach  moderation 
and  practise  more  or  less  immoderation,  instead  of 
combating  the  use  of  this  social  poison.  People  are 
unfortunately  blinded  when  they  give  themselves  up 
to  a  narcotic;  they  persist  in  self-deception  and  the 
general  degeneration  remains  for  the  most  part  un- 
noticed because  individuals  only  begin  to  notice  it  in 
their  own  case  when  it  has  already  gained  consider- 
able ground.  Then,  again,  there  is  a  peculiar 
reciprocal  action  between  constitutional  psychopathy 
(the  hereditary  tendency  to  mental  and  nervous  dis- 
turbances) and  alcoholism:  through  inheritance  the 
former  is  to  a  large  extent  engendered  from  the 
latter,  but  at  the  same  time  the  psychopath  tends  to 
drink  and  usually  succumbs  most  rapidly  to  alcohol- 
ism.    Then  because  these  very  psychopaths  are  the 


SYNOPSIS  OF  DISEASES  197 

worst  to  stand  alcohol  people  think  that  excessive 
drinking  is  only  the  vice  of  a  few  weaklings! 

The  following  figures  show  best  the  role  played  by 
alcohol  in  diseases  of  the  nervous  system.  From 
1870  to  1900,  7720  patients  were  admitted  into  the 
Burgholzli  Insane  Asylum  at  Zurich,  including  972 
cases  of  poisoning  of  the  nervous  system.  With 
925  of  these  latter  cases  (95.2  per  cent.,  or  12  per 
cent,  of  all  admitted)  it  was  a  matter  of  alcoholic 
poisoning;  in  38  cases  (3.9  per  cent.),  of  morphia 
poisoning.  There  were  three  cases  of  lead  poisoning, 
and  one  each  of  poisoning  by  potassium  bromide,  Co- 
cain, chloral,  ether,  carbonic  oxide,  and  illuminating 
gas.  Of  tobacco,  tea,  and  coffee  poisoning,  about 
which  there  is  so  much  twaddle,  there  was  not  a  single 
case  observed.  In  1900,  according  to  the  federal 
statistics,  1424  men  were  admitted  into  the  Swiss 
lunatic  asylums.  Of  these  294  (20  per  cent.)  were 
direct  alcoholic  cases,  and  there  were  only  nine  cases 
of  other  mental  poisoning,  mostly  from  morphia. 
But  we  see  the  true  significance  of  these  figures  only 
when  we  think  that  of  the  remaining  patients  a  large 
number,  hard  to  ascertain  exactly,  have  also  alcoholism 
(on  the  part  of  their  ancestors  if  not  on  their  own)  to 
thank  for  the  origin  of  their  disease,  and  that  many 
other  causes  of  mental  disturbance,  such  as  syphilis, 
were  most  frequently  acquired  in  a  state  of  alcoholic 
intoxication.  When  chronic  users  of  narcotics  are 
deprived  of  their  poison  they  suffer  at  first  (espe- 
cially the  morphine  fiends,  but  the  others  also)  from 


i98        PATHOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  LIFE 

severe  "  abstinence  symptoms,"  and  yet  the  complete 
suppression  of  the  poison  offers  the  only  possibility 
of  their  cure.  After  the  abstinence  symptoms  have 
been  lived  through,  health  and  normal  powers  return 
so  far  as  permanent  injuries  are  not  present.  He 
who  has  an  appetite  for  one  narcotic  can  usually 
succumb  easily  to  others  also,  and  should  be  careful 
to  avoid  them  all. 

(2)  Poisons  which  are  hard  to  dissolve,  and  re- 
main in  the  system*  Lead  in  particular  (with 
painters)  causes  chronic  poisonings  of  the  brain  and 
spinal  cord  and  also  of  the  periphal  nerves,  which 
produce  shrinkings  of  the  nervous  tissue  with  cor- 
responding paralyses  or  cripplings  and  often  with 
mental  disturbances.  Such  cases,  however,  are  rare. 
Still  rarer  are  poisonings  with  silver  and  quicksilver. 
These  poisons  engender  no  appetite. 

D.  Infections  of  the  Nervous  System.  Bacteria 
and  other  small  organisms  produce  many  serious  dis- 
eases, as  everybody  knows,  and  from  them  the  nervous 
system  can  also  suffer.  Serious  mental  disturbances 
are  found  after  typhoid  fever,  in  consequence  of  an 
invasion  of  the  brain  by  the  typhoid  bacteria ;  and  the 
same  is  the  case  after  such  other  germ  diseases  as  in- 
fluenza, malaria,  yellow  fever,  smallpox,  and  cholera. 
Yet  the  worst  of  all  infections  for  the  central  nervous 
system  is  syphilis.  This  can  lead  at  once  to  all  sorts 
of  new  formations,  inflammations,  destructions  of  tis- 
sue, and  shrinkings  in  the  brain,  spinal  cord,  and 
nerves,  which  for  their  part  give  occasion  for  nervous 


SYNOPSIS  OF  DISEASES  199 

disturbances,  such  as  paralyses,  cramps,  convulsions, 
or  pains.  Moreover,  the  dreaded  locomotor  ataxy,  or 
spinal  sclerosis  {tabes  dorsalis),  can  develop  with 
special  severity  on  a  soil  rendered  sickly  by  syphilis, 
and  as  a  consequence  of  it,  often  from  five  to  twenty 
years  after  its  apparent  cure; — and  the  same  is  true 
of  the  still  more  fearful  progressive  paralysis  of  the 
brain  (falsely  known  as  softening  of  the  brain). 
Both  appear  only  with  syphilitics,  but  appear  to  be 
secondary  shrinking  processes  rather  than  direct 
products  of  the  syphilis.  With  the  second  of  these 
diseases,  the  brain  shrinks  to  such  an  extent  that  all 
the  functions  of  nerve  and  mind  fall  into  progressive 
organic  disintegration,  and  the  patients  well  afford 
the  most  wretched  conceivable  picture  of  human  de- 
cay. It  is  peculiar  that  with  races  who  abstain  from 
alcohol  (the  Mohammedans)  syphilis  almost  never 
leads  to  brain  paralysis,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  does 
so  all  the  more  frequently  when  alcoholism  is  also 
present.  This  disease  affords  the  best  examples  of 
all-around  organic  dissociations  in  thought,  feeling, 
will,  and  movement. 

Leprosy  leads  especially  to  swellings  of  the  peri- 
pheral nerves,  and  when  it  attacks  the  ganglia  it  also 
produces  local  anaesthesias  and  paralyses.  In  Italy 
the  exclusive  use  of  spoiled  Indian  corn  often  leads  to 
pellagra,  a  serious  mental  disturbance  with  bodily 
sickliness.  In  tropical  countries  there  is  a  set  of 
still  other  infections  in  which  the  nervous  system  is 
involved. 


2oo         PATHOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  LIFE 

E.  Insanity  and  Nervous  Diseases  with  Various 
Localised  Diseases.  Every  circumscribed  organic 
disease  of  the  tissue  of  the  brain,  spinal  cord,  or  peri- 
pheral nerves  at  first  produces  local  symptoms,  which 
depend  upon  the  disturbance  or  destruction  of  the 
locality  in  question.  See  the  localisations  in  the 
brain  as  shown  in  Chapters  II.  and  IV.  and  Figures 
9  and  10.  A  destruction  of  the  centre  CC  (Fig.  9) 
on  the  left  side  will  lead,  for  example,  to  a  paralysis 
of  voluntary  movements  in  the  right  foot;  the  de- 
struction of  the  right  anterior  horn  of  the  lumbar 
region  of  the  spinal  cord  will  kill  the  neurones  of  the 
right  foot  and  cause  a  shrivelling  up  of  the  muscle, 
while  a  leprous  nodule  in  a  sensory  nerve  will  kill  it 
and  cause  insensibility  for  stimuli  in  the  region  of 
the  skin  cared  for  by  it. 

In  heart  disease,  when  some  coagulated  blood  from 
the  heart  runs  into  a  brain  artery  and  stops  it  up 
(this  is  called  embolism),  the  part  of  the  brain  sup- 
plied by  this  artery  is  shut  out  from  the  circulation 
of  the  blood  and  dies.  This  results  in  a  softening  of 
the  region  affected,  with  corresponding  losses  of 
speech  or  other  symptoms,  according  to  the  locality. 
Something  similar  takes  place  with  bleedings  in  the 
brain  in  consequence  of  diseased  blood-vessels  (apo- 
plexy), with  brain  tumours,  and  with  every  sort  of 
shrinking  process  in  different  nerve  regions;  and  thus 
there  arise  a  number  of  diseases  such  as  abscess  in  the 
brain,  multiple  sclerosis,  or  myelitis,  with  correspond- 
ing symptoms,  mostly  chronic.      If  a  considerable 


SYNOPSIS  OF  DISEASES  201 

part  of  the  brain  is  destroyed  then  of  course  the 
mental  faculties  suffer.  Very  often,  too,  tensions  and 
pressures  exerted  from  the  seat  of  the  disease  upon 
surrounding  parts  of  the  brain  lead  to  general  symp- 
toms of  irritation  or  to  the  suppression  of  functions, 
and  cause  general  mental  disturbances,  convulsions, 
paralyses,  pains,  unconsciousness,  disturbances  of 
speech,  and  other  grave  symptoms.  It  is  impossible 
here  to  go  into  the  detail  of  this  enormously  compli- 
cated subject.  As  an  example  of  a  peripheral  local 
nervous  affection  we  need  only  mention  the  peculiar 
blister-like  eruption  of  zoster,  which  rests  on  the  in- 
flammation of  a  nerve  and  causes  neuralgic  pains.  It 
is  clear,  again,  that  localised  troubles  have  their  sep- 
arate causes.  Tumours,  for  example,  undoubtedly 
depend  on  infections  through  lower  organisms,  which 
however,  have  not  yet  been  positively  demon- 
strated, and  abscesses  in  the  brain  are  sometimes 
caused  by  tubercular  bacilli.  Other  troubles  are 
caused  by  wounds  (such  as  a  broken  skull,  crushed 
nerves,  or  direct  laceration  of  the  brain  by  a  sudden 
jar). 

F.  General  Metabolic  Diseases,  Certain  mental 
disturbances  can  be  caused  by  general  metabolic  dis- 
eases, such  as  gout  (uric  acid  poisoning)  and  ursemia 
(poisoning  by  urea)  ;  or  by  glandular  diseases,  such  as 
diabetes,  or  myxcedema  (see  cretinism  above).  And 
there  are  other  more  or  less  rare  metabolic  diseases, 
which  also  affect  the  mind.1 

1  See  Dennig,  Hygiene  des  Stoffwechs  els,  Moritz,  pub.,  Stuttgart. 


202         PATHOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  LIFE 

G.  Exhaustion.  Acute  inanition,  a  lasting  con- 
dition of  hunger,  or  any  other  exhaustion  of  the  nerv- 
ous system  can  produce  acute  deliriums  and  the 
mental  disturbances  grouped  under  the  name  as- 
thenia. We  may  consider  this  the  true  "  neurasthe- 
nia," which  can  also  arise  in  certain  cases  in 
consequence  of  great  mental  overwork,  especially 
when  associated  with  scanty  sleep.  It  is  not  rare  for 
it  to  show  symptoms  similar  to  those  of  hysteria ;  and 
it  often  produces  mental  disturbances  with  complete 
incoherence,  or  perhaps  extreme  irritable  weakness 
with  many  hyperesthesias  and  symptoms  like  those 
of  hypochondria.  But  all  these  disturbances  are 
more  curable  when  they  result  from  exhaustion  than 
those  already  discussed  in  the  second  group  that  arise 
merely  through  hereditary  constitution.  Indeed  the 
significance  of  acquired  neurasthenia  or  psychasthenia 
has  been  ridiculously  exaggerated.  With  sound  na- 
tures they  are  extremely  rare.  But  people  are  prone 
to  attach  far  too  much  importance  to  exhaustion 
or  rather  external  causes,  which  are  usually  only  the 
drop  that  makes  the  glass  overflow,  and  to  under- 
estimate the  inner  force  of  the  inherited  predispo- 
sition. Yet  we  must  admit  that  many  who  have 
inherited  predispositions  can  protect  themselves  from 
the  disturbances  that  threaten  them  by  great  prudence 
and  a  healthy  mode  of  life,  and  with  such  people  it 
is  necessary  to  give  great  attention  to  the  factor  of 
exhaustion.  We  shall  return  to  this  in  the  chapter  on 
hygiene. 


SYNOPSIS  OF  DISEASES  203 

Group    IV. — Mental    and    Nervous    Disturbances 

through  Involution 

As  mental  and  nervous  functions  are  built  up  in 
youthful  development,  so  they  crumble  in  the 
period  of  senile  decay.  Shrinking  and  degeneration 
in  the  walls  of  the  blood-vessels  are  the  usual  causes 
of  the  shrinkings  that  take  place  in  the  neurones  of 
older  brains.  If  these  are  somewhat  diffuse,  the  re- 
sult is  common  senile  dementia  with  weakness  of 
memory  and  organic  dissociations.  This  is  often  ac- 
companied at  first  with  mental  dejection,  but  often 
too  with  excitement  and  buoyancy.  Hostile  egoism, 
stubborn  obstinacy,  and  often  brutality  are  further 
accompaniments.  Another  common  and  characteris- 
tic symptom  is  the  excitement  or  perversion  of  the 
sexual  impulse,  as  a  result  of  which  greybeards  may 
make  assaults  on  children  or  suddenly  fall  in  love 
with  young  girls.  If  they  die  soon  afterwards  their 
sexual  excesses  and  so-called  "  vices  "  are  held  to  be 
the  cause ;  while  really  the  whole  history  and  the  death 
too  were  the  result  of  the  shrinking  in  the  brain.  In 
this  way,  many  good  and  virtuous  people  have  lost 
their  reputation  in  their  old  age.  Age,  however,  is 
not  alone  responsible  for  senile  shrinking  of  the  brain. 
Alcoholic  poisoning  and  certain  inherited  predisposi- 
tions often  tend  to  produce  a  very  premature  senile 
involution  of  the  brain.  This  can  be  observed  in 
the  fiftieth  and  very  often  in  the  sixtieth  years;  while 
very  healthy  people  who  abstain  from  alcohol  or  use 


204         PATHOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  LIFE 

it  very  sparingly  can  often  remain  mentally  clear  to 
the  ninetieth  and  even  the  hundredth  year. 

In  old  age  the  tendency  to  shrink  is  also  present  in 
the  peripheral  nerves  such  as  the  optic  and  auditory, 
and  in  the  subordinate  nerve  centres.  Indeed  it  is  to 
be  expected  in  all  the  bodily  organs. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

CAUSES  OF   MENTAL  AND   NERVOUS  DISTURBANCES 

A . — Inheritance 

T  N  the  past  there  has  been  much  idle  talk  on  this 
*  head,  and  it  must  at  last  be  admitted  that  we  know 
precious  little  about  it;  though  the  subject  is  not 
so  obscure  as  it  used  to  be.  Doubtless  we  can  say 
that  in  most  cases  of  mental  disturbance  many 
causes  co-operate  and  that  if  we  examine  individual 
cases  we  shall  find  that  the  most  important  of  these 
causes  is  usually  an  inherited  tendency.  That  is  true 
at  least  of  those  disturbances  which  are  not  directly 
caused  by  wounds,  bacterial  infection,  or  poisoning. 
But  what  people  have  forgotten  far  too  often  in  the 
past  is  to  ask :  Where  does  the  inherited  tendency  come 
from?  Why  do  people  come  into  the  world  with  a 
strong  tendency  to  mental  and  nervous  diseases? 
The  answer,  "  Because  their  parents  or  ancestors  were 
mentally  diseased,"  is  not  satisfactory,  for  where  did 
these  get  their  disease  or  tendency  to  it?  The  sickly 
tendency  must  be  introduced  somewhere,  and  so  the 
question  comes  back  to  the  following:  What  causes 
produce  or  maintain  in  a  given  race  or  a  given  gen- 
eration the  tendency  to  engender  mental  and  nervous 

205 


2o6         PATHOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  LIFE 

disturbances  in  their  descendants?  Since  only  that 
can  be  inherited  which  affects  or  injures  the  germ 
plasm  itself  (see  Chapter  V.),  purely  acquired  local 
diseases  of  the  nervous  system  as  such  can  produce  no 
pathological  tendency  in  the  germ.  Moreover,  since 
under  normal  conditions  of  life  inherited  pathological 
tendencies  gradually  tend  to  disappear  in  the  course 
of  a  few  generations  through  what  is  called  regenera- 
tion, a  progressive  degeneration  must  have  causes 
which  are  progressive  or  at  least  continually  renewed, 
and  cannot  rest  altogether  on  old  inherited  tendencies. 
Inheritance  has  been  studied  especially  in  lunatic 
asylums ;  and  according  to  different  statistics  we  find 
an  inheritable  taint  amongst  parents  and  near  rela- 
tives in  forty  per  cent,  to  eighty  per  cent,  of  the  cases. 
Yet  these  statistics  usually  rest  upon  such  inaccurate 
and  insecure  statements  that  we  cannot  base  much 
upon  them.  I  got  Miss  J.  Koller  in  her  doctor's  dis- 
sertation to  make  an  exact  comparison  between  the 
ancestors  of  four  hundred  persons  who  were  mentally 
afflicted  and  the  same  number  of  normal  persons ;  and 
she  found  that  with  the  normal  persons  also  there  was 
a  strong  hereditary  taint,  especially  in  the  form  of 
nervous  and  mental  disturbances  in  the  collateral 
branches.  Apoplexies,  senile  dementia,  and  organic 
lesions  in  the  brain  were  as  numerous  amongst  the 
ancestors  of  the  normal  as  of  the  mentally  diseased. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  mentally  affected  showed  a 
strong  preponderance  of  idiocy,  shocking  characters, 
mental   disturbance,   and  alcoholism  in  their  direct 


CA  USES  OF  DISTURBANCES  207 

progenitors,  i.  e.,  their  immediate  parents.  Yet  if 
we  remember  what  has  been  said  above,  alcohol  is  the 
only  cause  which  can  be  proved  by  statistics  to  give 
a  direct  new  taint  of  mental  disturbance  to  germs  that 
were  previously  healthy.  There  certainly  are  other 
causes ;  but  they  are  not  numerous  or  clear  enough  to 
show  themselves  in  figures. 

But  it  is  certainly  bad  enough  if  the  parent  merely 
passes  over  to  his  children  abnormal  tendencies  which 
were  already  present  in  his  ancestors.  Those  ab- 
normalities which  appear  very  early,  like  idiocy  or 
epilepsy,  are,  as  a  rule,  the  expression  of  a  deep  here- 
ditary degeneration  of  the  germinal  outfit  (Anlage) 
of  the  nervous  system;  the  same  is  true  of  the  psy- 
chopathies and  of  the  abnormal  characters  of  our  sec- 
ond group.  The  figures  show  also  that  these  are 
found  most  frequently  amongst  the  parents  of  the 
mentally  diseased.  The  simple  lesson  to  be  drawn 
from  these  facts  is  that  persons  who  are  strongly  ab- 
normal as  to  mind  and  nerves  and  those  who  are  es- 
pecially inferior  should  have  no  children.  Acquired 
mental  diseases  do  not  leave  such  a  strong  hereditary 
taint,  yet  they  rest  for  the  most  part  on  a  general 
tendency  to  mental  disturbances;  they  often  relapse, 
and  usually  injure  family  life  so  seriously,  that  it  is 
a  good  rule  for  any  one  who  has  had  pronounced 
mental  disease  to  have  no  children,  except  in  special 
cases. 

It  is  not  always  understood  how  a  queer-headed 
fellow  can  come  from  apparently  healthy  parents  and 


2o8        PATHOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  LIFE 

ancestors,  without  alcoholism  or  something  of  the 
sort  being  present.  The  point  deserves  explaining, 
for  such  cases  belong  to  inheritance  quite  as  much  as 
those  in  which  it  is  plainly  recognisable.  The  fact 
that  a  dozen  children  of  the  same  parents  tend  to 
deviate  extraordinarily  from  each  other  when  the 
parents  represent  different  stocks,  and  especially 
when  there  has  been  marked  cross-breeding  for  several 
generations,  shows  the  lack  of  uniformity  in  the  sup- 
ply of  germ-cells  possessed  by  both  men  and  women. 
Some  of  these  contain  more  peculiarities,  more  atoms, 
of  this  or  that  ancestor  than  others.  Thus  an  indi- 
vidual's peculiarities  depend  very  largely  upon  the 
constitution  of  the  two  germ  cells  (male  and  female) 
which  happen  to  unite  for  his  conception.  Now  it 
can  happen  that  an  unfortunate  combination  adds  to- 
gether two  weak  ancestral  peculiarities  in  such  a  way 
as  to  result  in  an  inferiority  or  a  regular  abnormality, 
just  as  a  very  worthy  descendant  may  arise  from 
rather  ordinary  or  even  defective  forebears  by  a 
happy  summation  of  their  good  qualities.  This  fact 
can  certainty  not  be  upset.  We  must  even  give  full 
credence  to  the  doctrine  that  single  bodily  organs  and 
the  individual  peculiarities  to  which  they  contribute 
are  developed  from  very  heterogeneous  and  dissimilar 
mixtures  of  the  germinal  molecules  and  the  reproduc- 
tive powers  of  different  ancestors;  for  example,  one 
can  unite  the  nose  of  his  paternal  great-grandfather 
and  the  imagination  of  his  maternal  grandmother. 
But  it  would  be  a  great  mistake  to  deduce  from  this 


CAUSES  OF  DISTURBANCES  209 

a  kind  of  metaphysical  dogma  that  everything  can  be 
reduced  to  accident  or  fate.  The  more  pathological 
and  inferior  components  there  are  in  the  vital  forces 
of  ancestors  and  parents,  the  greater  is  the  chance  of 
having  defective,  abnormal,  and  mentally  diseased 
children.  And,  on  the  other  hand,  the  more  ancestors 
and  parents  are  composed  of  normal  or  generally 
superior  people,  the  more  capable  will  be  the  descend- 
ants they  produce.  Inheritance  is  thus  a  matter  of 
per  cents  and  probabilities.  Individual  cases  prove 
little  or  nothing.  It  is  a  matter  of  approximation,  and 
we  can  only  say  that  the  descendants  of  normal  and 
capable  progenitors  will  themselves  be  normal  and 
capable  in  the  greater  number  of  cases,  so  long  as  they 
do  not  poison  themselves  and  injure  their  germ  cells; 
and  that  the  descendants  of  those  with  distinctly  in- 
ferior and  pathological  brains  will  be  more  often  in- 
ferior and  pathological.  Only  in  the  course  of  many 
generations  can  a  very  healthy  and  normal  mode  of 
life  gradually  improve  the  quality  of  such  a  bad  breed. 
It  is  not  difficult  to  see  how  grievously  our  present 
marriages  and  methods  of  bringing  up  children  sin 
against  this  natural  law  of  inheritance,  and  what 
wretched  human  qualities  attain  to  the  greatest  in- 
crease. Not  that  we  should  aim  at  the  generation  of 
resounding  talent;  but  we  should  try  at  least  to 
further  the  production  of  tolerably  serviceable, 
healthy,  ethically  good,  industrious  people  possessed 
of  mental  balance.  In  his  Histoire  de  la  Science  et 
des  Savants,  Alphonse  de  Candolle  has  clearly  demon- 
14 


2 1 o  PA  THOLOG  Y  OF  THE  NER  VO  US  LIFE 

strated  by  facts  how  mental  and  scientific  gifts  are 
inherited  and  how  false  it  is  to  assert  the  opposite.1 
Our  selection  is  miserable  and  engenders  extremely 
pathological  and  inferior  people.     Of  this  more  anon. 

Every  influence  through  which  the  germ  is  poisoned 
or  otherwise  injured,  and  which  thus  lays  the  founda- 
tion for  inherited  weakness  in  a  healthy  stock,  can  be 
called  a  germ-corruption  (blast ophthoria) ,  and  the 
manner  in  which  it  makes  itself  felt  in  the  immediate 
descendants  can  be  called  extrinsic  or  improper  in- 
heritance ;  improper  because  in  it  the  qualities  already 
present  in  the  ancestors  are  not  handed  over  to  the 
descendants,  but  new  inferior  or  pathological  quali- 
ties proceed  from  the  deteriorated  germ-cells,  and 
then  propagate  themselves  in  further  generations  by 
common,  "  proper ':  inheritance.  Blastophthoria  is 
thus  the  worse  form  of  inheritance,  because  it  continu- 
ally gives  new  impetus  to  the  progressive  degenera- 
tion of  the  species.  Moreover  it  engenders  not  only 
diseases  of  the  nervous  system,  but  weaknesses  of  all 
the  bodily  organs.2  The  great  type  of  such  "  im- 
proper "  hereditary  causes  of  mental  disturbances  is 
afforded  by  alcohol  poisoning  of  the  germ,  and 
there  is  plenty  of  concrete  evidence  for  its  existence : 

1.  The  statistics  of  a  number  of  life-insurance 
companies  in  England,  Scotland,  and  Australia  which 

1  The  same  conclusions  have  been  reached  by  Galton,  Pearson,  Woods, 
and  Thorndike.  See,  for  example,  Galton's  Hereditary  Genius  (Macmil- 
lan,  pub.,)  and  Thorndike's  Measurements  of  Twins  (Science  Press,  pub., 
N.  Y.)— Tr. 

2  See  Chapter  V. — Race  History. 


CA  USES  OF  DISTURBANCES  2 1 1 

insure  total  abstainers  and  moderate  drinkers  in  sep- 
arate classes  and  reject  the  intemperate  altogether 
show  right  through  a  considerably  larger  average 
duration  of  life  for  the  abstainers  (about  seventy  per 
cent,  of  the  expected  deaths  as  against  ninety  to 
ninety-five  per  cent,  with  the  non-abstainers). 

2.  From  about  one-half  to  three-quarters  of  the 
idiots  and  epileptics  can  be  shown  to  spring  from 
alcoholic  parents  or  at  least  fathers.  For  the  com- 
parative statistics  of  Dr.  Jenny  Koller  see  above. 

3.  The  animal  experiments  of  Hodge,  Lombe- 
melle,  and  Laitinen  show  that  amongst  the  progeny  of 
animals  that  have  been  artificially  alcoholised  [by 
continually  mixing  considerable  alcohol  into  their 
food]  there  are  a  large  number  that  are  stillborn  or 
have  water  on  the  brain  or  rickets  or  are  maimed  and 
stunted  in  some  other  way  and  not  fit  to  live. 

4.  Similar  evidence  has  been  adduced  by  Demme 
in  Berne  and  others  regarding  the  descendants  of 
drinking  families. 

Professor  Demme  studied  the  children  of  ten  large 
families  in  which  the  father  and  perhaps  some  of  the 
other  forebears  were  drinkers,  and  of  ten  others  in 
which  the  parents  and  other  ancestors  were  not  ab- 
stainers to  be  sure,  but  yet  lived  soberly. 

The  first  group  (drinkers)  had  57  children,  of 
whom  12  died  of  weakness  soon  after  birth.  Of  36 
others,  8  suffered  from  idiocy,  13  from  convulsions 
and  epilepsy,  2  were  deaf  and  dumb,  5  suffered  from 
inebriety  with  epilepsy  or  chorea,  3  from  bodily  de- 


212         PA  T HO  LOGY  OF  THE  NER  VO  US  LIFE 

formities,  and  5  were  dwarfed.  Only  nine  developed 
normal  minds  and  bodies.  Of  seven  of  these  nine 
the  father  alone  had  been  given  to  drink,  the  mother 
and  the  paternal  forefathers  being  temperate;  while 
of  the  thirty-six  children  whose  paternal  forefathers 
or  whose  mother  was  also  given  to  drink,  only  two 
remained  normal. 

The  second  (temperate)  group  had  61  children. 
Of  these,  3  died  of  weakness  and  2  of  stomach  and 
bowel  catarrh  shortly  after  birth;  2  more  had  St. 
Vitus's  dance,  and  2  were  bodily  deformed;  2  others 
remained  backward  mentally,  yet  without  being 
idiots;  50  developed  quite  normally. 

To  this  it  must  be  added  that  the  ten  drinking 
men's  families  were  not  strikingly  tainted  with  he- 
reditary mental  disease,  though  in  one  of  them  two  of 
the  father's  brothers  and  sisters  were  epileptic  and 
one  was  visionary,  and  in  a  second  a  brother  of  the 
father  was  deranged.  In  a  third,  the  mother  com- 
mitted suicide  in  consequence  of  the  father's 
drunkenness. 

5.  On  the  strength  of  the  last  Swiss  census,  which 
showed  nine  thousand  idiots  for  the  whole  country, 
Dr.  Bezzola  has  shown  that  there  are  two  maximal 
periods  in  which  they  are  begotten — the  time  of  the 
vintage  and  the  time  of  the  carnival  [before  Lent,  a 
period  of  great  revelry],  while  the  maximal  period 
for  the  remaining,  normal  population  is  in  summer. 
In  the  wine  cantons,  the  time  of  vintage  shows  a  very 
great  maximum  in  the  generation  of  idiots. 


CA  USES  OF  D/S  TURBANCES  2 1 3 

6.  Von  Bunge  in  Basel  (Bale)  has  proved  statis- 
tically that  the  increasing  incapacity  of  women  to 
suckle  their  children  rests  pre-eminently  upon  the  use 
of  alcohol  by  their  parents  and  forefathers.  By  simi- 
lar statistics  he  has  shown  that  alcoholism  in  the 
forefathers  has  a  strong  tendency  to  produce  mental 
disturbances  and  the  disposition  to  tuberculosis  and 
dental  decay. 

7.  H.  E.  Ziegler  and  H.  Fuhner  have  recently 
shown  that  even  less  than  one  per  cent,  of  ethyl 
alcohol  in  the  water  retards  the  development  of  the 
embryo  of  the  sea-urchin,  that  two  per  cent,  produces 
monstrosities  and  great  arrests  of  development,  and 
that  four  per  cent,  hinders  all  development  of  the 
embryo. 

8.  Finally,  post-mortem  examination  will  show  to 
any  physician  who  will  open  his  eyes  the  deleterious 
effect  of  alcohol  on  the  bodily  tissue,  just  as  his  prac- 
tice will  show  its  degenerative  influence.  To  this  I 
add  that  in  Norway  and  Sweden,  which  were  most 
seriously  given  over  to  alcohol  and  degenerated  in 
the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century,  the  strict 
reform  which  took  place  about  fifty  years  ago  has 
resulted  not  only  in  preventing  an  increase  in  the 
number  of  mental  disturbances  and  a  diminution  of 
crimes,  but  also  in  an  important  increase  in  the  num- 
ber of  young  men  capable  of  military  service,  though 
only  lately;  while  in  central  Europe  the  opposite 
conditions  have  produced  opposite  results.  In  like 
contrast  to  the  Swedes,  formerly  healthy  primitive 


2i4        PA  THOLOG  Y  OF  THE  NER  VO US  LIFE 

races  began  to  degenerate  when  Europeans  had 
taught  them  to  drink, — such  as  many  Indian  races, 
Negroes,  and  Malays. 

But  other  kinds  of  poisoning  can  also  cause  degen- 
eration of  the  germ  cells,  such  as  those  that  result 
from  other  narcotics,  syphilis,  and  tuberculosis; 
though  this  last  does  not  injure  the  germs  of  the 
nervous  system  so  much.  Then,  too,  a  very  deterio- 
rative effect  is  produced  by  factory  life,  by  being  shut 
up  in  bad  air,  by  scanty  nutrition,  and  by  all  one- 
sided or  insufficient  activities.  Here,  to  be  sure, 
there  are  no  unambiguous  figures  as  to  the  effects 
upon  the  nervous  system  as  such;  but  it  always  de- 
generates with  the  other  organs,  just  as  the  other 
bodily  tissues  degenerate  with  the  nervous  system  in 
the  case  of  alcoholic  poisoning. 

In  connection  with  the  inheritance  of  mental  ab- 
normalities we  must  speak  briefly  of  the  tendency  to 
crime  already  mentioned  in  Chapter  VII.  in  connec- 
tion with  imbecility.  The  celebrated  "  born  criminal ': 
of  the  Italian  Lombroso  is  no  other  than  the  ethical 
imbecile  in  his  different  varieties.  But  the  majority 
of  our  criminals  have  more  or  less  hereditary  tendency 
in  that  direction — something  that  the  law  still  un- 
fortunately ignores  for  the  most  part  in  practice. 
The  prevention  of  reproduction  amongst  natural 
criminals  and  total  abstinence  from  alcohol  would  do 
more  for  society  and  the  prevention  of  crime  than  all 
the  laws.  This  also  belongs  to  hygiene;  but  the  sub- 
ject would  lead  us  too  far  afield  and  so  I  urgently 


CA  USES  OF  DISTURBANCES  2 15 

recommend  every  one,  especially  physicians  and  jur- 
ists, to  read  the  excellent  little  book  of  Delbrück  on 
Juridical  Psychopathology.1 

B. — General  Predisposing  Elements  in  the  Life  of 

the  Individual. 

Age  and  sex  bring  with  them  the  tendency  to 
definite  mental  disturbances.  Childhood  inclines,  as 
we  saw,  to  developmental  psychoses  and  neuroses, 
(first  group  of  Chapter  VII.)  as  well  as  to  epilepsy. 
Advanced  age  tends  to  the  psychoses  and  neuroses  of 
the  fourth  group,  while  vigorous  middle  life  is  pre- 
eminently disposed  to  those  of  Group  III.  In  the 
life  of  a  woman  there  are  certain  periods  of  special 
weakness  which  have  a  bad  effect  on  slumbering  in- 
herited tendencies  and  readily  occasion  the  outbreak 
of  acute  psychoses.  These  are  child-bed  most  of 
all,  then  the  climacteric  (the  age  when  menstruation 
ceases),  menstruation  itself,  and  pregnancy.  Many 
mental  disturbances  always  get  worse  or  return  reg- 
ularly at  the  period  of  menstruation.  Most  attacks  of 
sickness  caused  in  this  way  with  women  are  acute  and 
curable,  though  the  outlook  is  often  not  so  hopeful 
with  the  mental  disturbances  of  the  climacteric. 

C.     Acquired  Causes. 

1.       Purely    Bodily     Material     Causes.       These 
include : 

1  Gerichtliche  Psycho-pathologie,  Joh.  Ambrosius  Barth, pub.,  Leipzig, 
1897. 


2i6        PATHOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  LIFE 

(a)  All  poisonings.1  In  this  group  the  form  of 
sickness  is  directly  determined  by  its  cause.  Here  of 
course  we  do  not  speak  of  those  mental  and  nervous 
disturbances  which  have  arisen  indirectly  through  the 
inheritance  of  an  ancestor's  poisoned  germ  cells,  but 
of  direct  poisoning  of  the  nervous  system,  especially 
through  such  drugs  as  alcohol  or  morphia  as  well  as 
by  auto-intoxication.  As  we  have  seen,  this  group  is 
very  important. 

(b)  Infections  through  lower  organisms.  In- 
fections through  syphilis,  typhoid,  cholera,  influenza, 
rabies,  septic  bacteria  (blood  poisoning),  and  tuber- 
culosis (tubercular  bacilli  often  cause  inflammations 
in  the  brain  and  its  coverings)  can  all  attack  the  brain 
and  the  rest  of  the  nervous  system,  and  thus  produce 
mental  and  nervous  diseases  which  are  often  fatal  or 
chronic  and  incurable,  but  also  often  curable.  These 
we  have  already  enumerated.  The  most  important 
of  them  is  the  progressive  paralysis  caused  by 
syphilis. 

(c)  Metabolic  diseases.  Gout,  myxcedema 
(cretinism),  and  other  general  metabolic  diseases  can 
be  the  direct  causes  of  mental  disturbances. 

(d)  Abnormal  modes  of  life,  continuous  confine- 
ment in  bad  air,  unhealthy  occupations,  bad  dwell- 
ings, faulty  nutrition,  and  everything  in  general  that 
reduces  a  person's  general  health  and  disturbs  diges- 
tion and  nourishment,  also  makes  the  brain  less  capa- 
ble of  resistance  and  indirectly  causes  the  outbreak 

i  See  Chapter  VII.,  Group  III,  C. 


CAUSES  OF  DISTURBANCES  217 

of  nervous  and  mental  diseases.  Yet  here  again 
those  who  usually  succumb  in  this  way  are  already 
handicapped  nervously  by  heredity;  with  other  peo- 
ple who  contract  general  bodily  diseases  the  results 
are  more  likely  to  be  purely  physical.  The  psychoses 
of  exhaustion  (see  Chapter  VII.)  can  be  included 
here. 

(e)  Obviously  all  direct  wounds  and  local  organic 
diseases  of  the  brain,  jars,  lacerations,  tumours,  apo- 
plexies, and  the  like  belong  with  the  immediate  causes 
of  acquired  mental  disturbances.  But  the  wounds 
have  no  hereditary  effects  whatever;  they  do  not  in- 
jure the  germ  cells  or  the  descendants  of  the  patient, 
and  are  not  conditioned  by  inheritance  from  the 
ancestors. 

Special  mention  must  be  given  to  certain  disturb- 
ances whose  course  is  similar  to  that  of  hysteria  or 
brain  paralysis,  though  they  are  the  direct  result  of 
severe  bodily  injuries,  and  occur  with  special  fre- 
quency in  the  case  of  railroad  accidents.  With  these 
so-called  traumatic  neuroses  and  psychoses  the  ques- 
tion of  damages  from  accident  insurance  plays  a 
great  part  and  really  may  influence  their  course. 
And  yet  the  course  of  such  afflictions  is  often  very 
serious  and  the  patients  have  not  seldom  been  un- 
justly accused  of  shamming.  There  is  no  doubt  that 
simple  neuroses  are  often  accompanied  by  simula- 
tion or  exaggeration  for  the  sake  of  getting 
higher  damages;  but  it  is  much  commoner  for  the 
cases  to  be  made  worse  by  autosuggestion.      Such 


2i8       PATHOLOGY  OF   THE  NERVOUS  LIFE 

cases  can  arise  without  wounds  or  bleeding  in  the 
brain. 

2.  Purely  Psychic  or  Mental  Causes.  As  we  have 
already  shown  in  Chapter  III.,  nothing  is  really 
purely  mental.  What  we  understand  by  psychic  dis- 
eases are  irritations  which  arouse  functional  neuro- 
kym  storms  in  the  brain,  because  they  liberate  strong 
or  lasting  emotions  either  directly  or  through  verbal 
and  other  associations.  I  say  emotions,  because  pure 
excitements  of  will  or  intellect  are  rarely  or  never  the 
cause  of  mental  or  nervous  disturbances.  Here  the 
life  of  feeling  or  emotion  plays  the  leading  part.  The 
mental  causes  thus  work  dynamically,  or  through 
movement  and  living  force;  and  from  this  it  follows 
that  at  first  they  can  call  forth  only  functional,  not 
organic,  disturbances.  But  any  one  who  has  under- 
stood the  previous  chapters  will  at  once  understand 
how  such  mental  causes  can  produce  psychoses  and 
neuroses   (mental  and  nervous  diseases). 

I  must  now  refer  to  what  has  been  said  in  Chapter 
I.  about  suggestion;  for  you  must  know  that  with  the 
troubles  of  purely  mental  origin  suggestion  and  auto- 
suggestion play  an  important  role,  because  they  in- 
volve dissociations,  fill  the  mind  with  some  one  idea, 
and  allow  the  emotional  wave  bound  up  with  it  to  in- 
crease very  powerfully,  so  that  it  can  not  only  produce 
lasting  effects  but  also  remain  slumbering  in  the  brain 
for  years  beneath  the  threshold  of  consciousness  as  a 
so-called  psychic  trauma  (a  mental  or  emotional 
wound) .     A  child  is  frightened  at  dusk  by  some  silly 


CA  USES  OF  DISTURBANCES  2 1 9 

joker  who  pretends  to  be  a  ghost  or  the  devil.     The 
fright  and  the  image  of  the  ghost  remain  in  the  mem- 
ory, appear  in  dreams,  and  terrify  the  child  after- 
wards on  every  occasion;  for  now  the  slightest  hint 
or  the  most  insignificant  incident  gives  new  life  to  the 
memory.     In  consequence  of  it  all  there  may  arise 
hallucinations  and  imperative  ideas  and  phobias  and 
hysterical  attacks.     A  very  frequent  source  of  such 
emotional  injuries  is  formed  by  sexual  occurrences; 
such  as  indecent  assaults  upon  children  or  young 
girls,  or  excitements  of  the  erotic  fancy.     Of  course 
the  disposition  of  the  individual  plays  a  prominent 
part  here,  as  the  following  case,  which  I  observed,  will 
show:  A  married  man  was  mentally  affected   (with 
paresis,  the  result  of  an  old  case  of  syphilis).     An 
insane   passion   at   the   beginning   of   his    alienation 
caused  him  to  attempt  an  indecent  assault  upon  his 
daughter.     The  innocent  child  did  not  understand 
the  situation  and  did  not  trouble  herself  much  about 
it.     The  mother   on  the   contrary  became   fearfully 
excited,  and  six  years  afterwards  she  is  still  suffering 
from  serious  sleeplessness,  mental  agitations,  and  de- 
pressions   in    consequence    of    the    affair;    while   the 
daughter,  who  has  grown  up  in  the  meantime,  remains 
perfectly  calm  and  has  to  quiet  the  mother  about  it. 
The  matter  is  easily  explained  by  two  circumstances: 
a.     At  the  time  of  the  event  the  mother  understood 
its  seriousness, the  daughter  not;  hence  the  strong  emo- 
tional effect  upon  the  former  alone,     b.     The  daugh- 
ter is  naturally  more  normal,  has  more  mental  poise. 


22o        PATHOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  LIFE 

In  consequence  of  the  idea  that  she  could  not  sleep 
and  of  her  anxious  efforts  to  put  herself  to  sleep  by 
an  act  of  will  (a  frequent  cause  of  sleeplessness),  a 
working  woman  suffered  for  a  year  and  a  half  from 
total  sleeplessness.  I  then  succeeded  in  curing  her 
by  means  of  hypnotic  suggestion.  A  gentleman 
slowly  develops  the  suggestion  that  every  emotion 
he  has  causes  diarrhoea,  and  the  thing  becomes  an 
awful  nuisance;  he  has  to  take  opium  every  day  to 
avoid  it.  But  in  reality  opium  only  constipates  for 
a  short  time;  when  it  is  used  continually  it  is  a  direct 
cause  of  diarrhoea.  Here  a  cure  was  effected  by 
counter-suggestion  and  the  removal  of  the  opium.  On 
the  other  hand,  many  people  get  constipation  by  auto- 
suggestion and  keep  it  up  by  the  continual  use  of 
laxatives  which  get  the  central  nervous  system  out 
of  the  habit  or  normally  innervating  the  bowels. 
Many  menstrual  disturbances,  uterine  pains,  disturb- 
ances of  men's  sexual  powers,  continued  hysterical 
attacks,  and  even  regular  psychoses  are  the  results  of 
autosuggestion.  A  whole  set  of  nervous  disturb- 
ances can  still  be  cured  by  suggestion,  and  doubtless 
arose  through  suggestion  or  autosuggestion,  such  as 
many  cases  of  bed-wetting  and  other  performances 
which  with  children  are  generally  called  naughty.  A 
large  part  of  pedagogics  rests  on  properly  under- 
stood and  applied  suggestion,  and  it  forms  the  best 
of  curative  agencies,  yet  one  that  can  only  be  effect- 
ive when  bound  up  with  trust  and  affection,  never 
with  repulsion.     A  gentleman  was  brought  to  me  in 


CAUSES  OF  DISTURBANCES  221 

the  asylum  because  he  was  obeying  voices  (hallucina- 
tions) which  commanded  him  to  smash  the  furniture 
in  his  room  at  an  hotel.  He  declared  that  he  was 
persecuted  by  spirits  who  gave  him  absurd  commands, 
amongst  others  to  smash  things.  This  was  absurd  to 
be  sure,  and  he  knew  it,  but  yet  he  had  to  do  it  at  last 
to  be  at  rest  from  the  spirits.  Then  he  explained 
how  he  had  been  amongst  spiritualists  in  America  and 
learned  to  see  and  hear  the  spirits.  From  this  we 
concluded,  for  he  was  reasonable  in  other  respects, 
that  his  delusion  of  persecution  had  been  suggested  to 
him  by  the  spiritualistic  ideas.  I  hypnotised  various 
people  in  his  presence  and  then  hypnotised  him  too, 
declared  with  authority  that  I  had  cast  out  the  spirits, 
that  my  power  was  the  stronger,  and  that  from  now 
on  he  would  hear  no  more  voices  and  be  well  again  in 
every  way.  And  so  he  was  cured.  With  hysterical 
people  especially,  regular  mental  disturbances  can 
arise  through  suggestion  and  autosuggestion,  and  be 
cured  only  in  the  same  way.  Dr.  Freud  in  Vienna  has 
built  up  a  whole  doctrine  and  method  of  treatment 
based  on  the  fact  of  such  autosuggestions  and  the 
way  they  arouse  the  emotions.  He  calls  a  subcon- 
sciously preserved  emotional  effect  (see  above) 
strangulated  emotion  (eingeklemmten  Affekt),  and 
with  patients  in  whom  it  is  present  he  tries  by  hyp- 
notic suggestion  to  get  back  the  memory  of  the  origi- 
nal situation  which  produced  the  trouble  in  the  first 
place,  for  often  the  patients  themselves  have  forgot- 
ten it.     Then  by  quieting  suggestions  he  sets  it  aside. 


222        PATHOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  LIFE 

This  undoubtedly  succeeds  in  certain  cases,  but  the 
mechanism  is  not  always  so  simple.  Every  case  is 
different,  and  we  must  individualise  extraordinarily 
if  we  wish  to  get  behind  all  the  psychological  condi- 
tions involved  in  such  a  trouble.  But  it  is  certain  that 
if  you  gradually  win  the  full  confidence  of  such  pa- 
tients you  finally  get  back  to  the  true  cause  of  their 
disturbances  and  find  out  that  the  trouble  really  rests 
on  suggestive  effects  of  strong  past  emotions,  par- 
ticularly unpleasant  emotions,  which  have  established 
themselves  chronically  in  the  brain  and  continually 
disturb  all  its  activities  more  or  less. 

By  psychic  contagion  we  understand  something 
that  really  amounts  to  a  form  of  suggestion.  Many 
crazy  people  are  so  powerfully  possessed  and  carried 
away  by  their  delusions  and  at  the  same  time  so  gifted 
or  energetic  and  effective  in  suggestion  that  they  in- 
oculate a  whole  set  of  normal  people,  especially  those 
closely  connected  with  them.  And  thus  we  see  peo- 
ple formerly  sound  so  infected  with  the  crazy  ideas  of 
a  husband  or  wife,  father,  mother,  brother,  or  sister, 
that  they  blindly  call  all  this  individual's  absurdities 
good,  or  even  share  them  and  become  as  undiscrimi- 
nating  and  apparently  mad  as  he  is.  In  many  of 
these  cases,  especially  with  brothers  and  sisters,  it  is 
difficult  to  decide  whether  the  common  disease  is  to  be 
ascribed  to  mutual  infection,  or  whether,  in  the  main, 
it  must  not  be  traced  back  to  the  common  roots  of  an 
hereditary  family  tendency.  As  a  rule,  both  factors 
play  a  part.     For  typical  cases  of  infection  we  may 


CAUSES  OF  DISTURBANCES  223 

look  to  the  instances  in  which  the  husband  mentally 
infects  the  wife,  or  vice  versa,  for  here  the  effect  is 
undoubtedly  produced  by  suggestion.  These  cases 
are  not  especially  rare,  and  they  are  not  always  cura- 
ble. It  is  wonderful  to  see  how  the  infected  person 
will-lessly  believes  the  direst  nonsense  and  thinks  and 
speaks  and  acts  according  to  the  pattern  set.  In  such 
a  case  even  a  complete  and  lasting  separation  can  not 
always  effect  a  cure.  Yet  to  be  mentally  infected  in 
this  way  one  must  always  have  a  certain  rather  strong 
hereditary  predisposition.  The  French  call  the  dis- 
ease folie  ä  deux. 

Many  nervous  troubles  can  be  spread  by  infection, 
or  imitation,  especially  hysterical  attacks,  but  also 
other  troubles  as  varied  as  St.  Vitus's  dance,  headache, 
and  menstrual  disturbances.  For  this  reason  regular 
epidemics  of  such  troubles  often  break  out  in  institu- 
tions, schools,  and  families.  Finally,  when  the  occa- 
sion arises,  vast  multitudes  of  the  people  catch  the 
suggestion  and  are  carried  away  by  some  abnormal 
individual  who  regards  himself  as  the  prophet  of  a 
new  faith. 

With  those  who  are  predisposed,  mental  diseases 
can  be  produced  directly  and  immediately  by  strong 
emotions,  even  by  happy  emotions.  People  have 
been  turned  mad  before  now  by  the  winning  of  the 
grand  prize  or  the  return  of  a  long-lost  son  or  wife; 
but  not  so  often  as  by  the  sudden  death  of  a  dear 
friend,  the  sudden  loss  of  means,  or  a  destructive  or 
dangerous  fire.     On  the  whole,  however,  these  cases 


224      PATHOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  LIFE 

are  rare,  and  are  mentioned  frequently  only 
because  they  make  a  strong  impression.  When 
they  are  carefully  investigated  we  generally  find  a 
strong  hereditary  disposition  at  the  bottom  of 
them. 

A  more  frequent  cause  of  mental  and  nervous  dis- 
turbances is  to  be  found  in  lasting  or  oft-repeated 
emotional  excitements,  such  as  matrimonial  quarrels, 
anxieties  about  food  or  money,  love  troubles,  sexual 
abnormalities  and  misadventures,  wounds  of  honour 
and  vanity,  or  tormenting  bodily  ailments.  But  it 
is  extraordinarily  difficult  to  prove  in  any  particular 
case  that  something  of  the  sort  really  is  the  cause  of  a 
mental  or  nervous  disturbance,;  for  these  very  situa- 
tions are  themselves  generally  the  result  of  inherited 
fauts  or  peculiarities  of  temperament  and  character.1 
So  that  when  we  ask  how  much  depends  on  the  in- 
herited pathological  tendency,  and  how  much  on  the 
acute  or  chronic  feelings  to  which  this  led,  the  ques- 
tion can  never  be  answered  exactly ;  one  expert  would 
attach  more  importance  to  the  one  element  and  an- 
other to  the  other.  As  a  rule,  the  hereditary  disposi- 
tion is  underestimated  and  the  direct  effect  of  the 
feelings  exaggerated.  Here  we  must  mention  many 
other  false  diagnoses,  as  where  disturbances  of  di- 
gestion (dyspepsia)  or  of  menstruation,  which  wrere 
really  caused  by  psychoses,  are  pronounced  by  physi- 
cians who  do  not  know  the  brain,  to  be  the  causes  of 
the  mental  depression  and  disturbance!     This  con- 

1  See  Chapter  VII.,  Group  II. 


CAUSES  OF  DISTURBANCES  225 

fusion  of  cause  and  effect  unfortunately  occurs  every 
day. 

On  the  other  hand,  there  are  doubtless  certain 
modes  of  life  that  deeply  affect  the  whole  emotional 
tone  and  very  easily  produce  mental  disturbances. 
Most  dangerous  of  all  is  absolute  exclusion  from  all 
human  society,  solitary  confinement,  or  the  life  of  a 
settler  on  a  remote  farm,  in  the  forest,  or  in  the  wilder- 
ness. Then  too  a  perverted  pedagogy  may  produce 
very  bad  effects  in  the  nervous  system  of  a  child  by 
its  injurious  influences  upon  the  spirits  as  well  as  by 
mistaken  suggestions.  An  exalted  mysticism  can 
lead  to  melancholia  and  religious  delusions  with  those 
who  are  predisposed.  One-sided  mental  culture  with 
neglected  emotions  and  will  often  breeds  distorted, 
abnormal  people,  or  at  least  allows  better  possibilities 
to  go  to  seed  for  the  sake  of  cultivating  worse.  But 
this  subject  can  be  discussed  better  later. 

3.  Mixed  Psychic  Causes.  A  number  of  func- 
tionally injurious  elements  can  be  counted  as  either 
bodily  or  mental — for  example,  the  disturbance  of 
sleep.  Sleep  is  at  once  a  mental  and  a  physical  con- 
dition. To  restore  the  exhausted  brain,  repose  for  its 
neurones  is  essential.  This  means  that  health  and 
normality  cannot  be  preserved  without  sufficient 
sleep.  Continued  prevention  or  disturbance  of  sleep, 
excessive  vigils,  night  work,  and  the  like  injure  the 
mental  poise,  i.  e.,  the  action  of  the  brain,  and  can  pro- 
voke lasting  functional  mental  and  nervous  disturb- 
ances. The  same  is  true  of  all  one-sided,  extreme 
is 


226        PATHOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  LIFE 

abuses  of  the  brain,  some  of  which  we  have  already 
mentioned. 

The  sexual  life  can  have  a  hurtful  effect  in  many 
ways:  Either  (1)  through  continued  purely  mental 
excitement  and  the  dominance  of  sexual  images  which 
finally  fill  the  person  completely;  or  (2)  through  ex- 
aggerated sexual  enjoyment.  This  latter  again  can 
injure  the  nervous  system  either  by  direct  exhaustion 
and  loss  of  stamina  or  by  the  violent  emotions  which 
it  often  involves,  such  as  those  aroused  by  unrequited 
love  or  anxiety  as  to  various  consequences  of  the  sex- 
ual act,  such  as  pregnancy,  venereal  diseases,  tragic 
scenes,  or  criminal  prosecutions  (in  the  case  of  sexual 
abnormalities).  With  self -pollution  and  many  other 
so-called  errors  of  sex  there  are  both  exhaustion  and 
humiliating   and   depressing   emotional   impressions. 

Yet  before  leaving  this  subject  we  must  speak  di- 
rectly of  the  great  confusion  which  exists  between  the 
indirect  consequences  of  sexual  indulgence,  such  as 
contagious  diseases,  and  the  direct  results  of  the  ex- 
cess itself ;  and  to  tell  the  truth  we  must  say  decidedly 
that  sexual  excess  alone,  even  when  it  is  abnormal, 
does  the  least  direct  injury  to  the  nervous  system  with 
people  who  are  otherwise  sound.  The  principal  in- 
juries result  (a)  from  the  emotional  agitations  con- 
nected with  it  and  the  awkward  social  consequences, 
and  (b)  from  veneral  diseases.  And  yet  there  is  no 
mistaking  the  fact  that  there  are  injurious  conse- 
quences of  repeated  over-excitements,  especially  with 
men,  even  if  the  connected  emotional  and  suggestive 


CAUSES  OF  DISTURBANCES  227 

elements  do  play  a  decidedly  leading  part.  Venereal 
diseases,  on  the  other  hand,  work  directly  by  pro- 
ducing specific  psychoses  (see  syphilis  above),  by 
the  emotional  consequences  which  arise  when  other 
members  of  the  family  are  infected,  and  by  the  dis- 
organisation of  the  general  health  or  of  the  family 
life. 

D. — General 

From  what  has  been  said  about  the  causes  of 
mental  and  nervous  disturbances  we  can  see  how 
tremendously  complicated  they  are.  One  seldom  acts 
alone.  The  main  cause  we  have  found  in  hereditary 
tendencies,  and  the  main  cause  of  these  again  in 
injuries  to  the  germ  plasm,  chiefly  through  intoxi- 
cations (poisonings),  of  which  alcohol  is  the  most 
important  cause.  Then  come  other  unhealthy  condi- 
tions of  life  and  emotions.  Since  the  main  business 
of  nervous  hygiene  is  to  remove  the  cause  of  mental 
and  nervous  diseases,  we  must  ask  whether  general 
experiments  and  statistics  cannot  point  out  the  way. 
We  certainly  cannot  set  aside  all  the  causes.  In- 
juries to  the  skull  and  brain  through  accidents  can 
never  be  completely  avoided;  nor  can  contagious  dis- 
eases, suggestions,  and  emotions.  But  when  we  con- 
sider that  hereditary  tendency  is  by  all  odds  the  most 
important  factor  and  gives  a  considerable  impetus 
to  the  effects  of  all  other  causes,  then  we  must  try  to 
establish  the  principal  causes  of  it. 

In  almost  all  civilised  lands  we  observe  a  tremend- 


228        PATHOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  LIFE 

ous  increase  in  mental  and  nervous  diseases.  Ac- 
cording to  statements  of  the  cantonal  statistical 
bureau  in  Berne,  there  were  in  the  canton  of  Berne  in 
1871,  2802  cases  of  mental  diseases  (5.6  per  thousand 
of  the  population)  ;  in  the  year  1902,  on  the  contrary, 
there  were  4836  (8.2  per  thousand) ,  and  yet  both  enu- 
merations were  taken  according  to  the  same  method, 
and  the  second  no  more  carefully  than  the  first,  as  I 
am  informed  by  Herr  Mühlemann,  the  cantonal  sta- 
tistician. Quite  as  great  or  even  greater  increase 
had  been  previously  found  in  the  canton  of  Zurich, 
though  here  the  method  of  enumeration  was  more 
exact  the  second  time;  and  we  find  the  same  relation 
throughout  the  whole  of  central  Europe.  Insane  asy- 
lums and  nerve  institutions  grow  like  mushrooms. 
Xervousness,  mental  insufficiency,  defects  of  char- 
acter, weakness  of  will,  and  nervous  disturbances  of 
all  sorts  are  racing  to  burden  and  complicate  our  so- 
cial life  and  make  mankind  miserable.  There  is  a 
corresponding  increase  in  the  number  of  suicides. 
Crimes  are  certainly  not  diminishing,  and  it  is  signi- 
ficant that  their  character  is  ever  more  pregnantly 
and  frequently  pathological.  An  attempt  is  often 
made  to  explain  the  matter  by  saying  that  we  pay 
more  attention  to  these  things  than  we  used  to,  take 
better  care  of  the  insane  and  lock  them  up  oftener, 
and  that  consequently  the  increase  is  only  apparent. 
We  will  not  dispute  the  partial  justification  of  such 
an  explanation,  but  it  is  not  sufficient,  and  the  other 
factors  should  not  be  overlooked  or  ignored. 


CAUSES  OF  DISTURBANCES  229 

Formerly  in  the  good  old  times  they  made  much 
shorter  work  than  now  of  incapable  and  unsatisfac- 
tory people.  A  tremendous  number  of  pathological 
individuals  that  were  not  pronouncedly  insane  and 
yet  injured  society  by  their  perverse  tendencies,  by 
sexual  crimes  and  brutalities,  or  by  drunkenness, 
theft,  and  murder,  were  shortly  and  summarily  con- 
demned and  hanged  or  beheaded.  The  process  was 
short  and  sure,  for  it  kept  these  people  from  increas- 
ing any  further  and  plaguing  society  with  their 
degenerate  stock.  Many  others  starved  and  quickly 
came  to  grief.  Even  those  genuinely  crazy  were 
killed  or  burned  as  witches.  All  that  is  not  so  very 
old;  we  need  scarcely  turn  back  two  centuries,  and 
that  is  not  so  many  generations.  But  our  present 
misguided  humanitarianism  carefully  nurses  the 
whole  breed  at  private  and  public  expense  and  lets 
them  marry  merrily  away  and  increase;  while  the 
strongest,  healthiest,  and  most  normal  people  are 
partly  sent  off  as  food  for  cannon  in  war,  partly  tied 
up  as  soldiers  and  servants  in  peace,  kept  for  a  long 
time  from  marrying,  and  consequently  given  over  to 
prostitution  and  alcoholism,  so  that  afterwards  when 
they  marry  they  are  likely  to  bring  with  them  serious 
sources  of  degeneration  for  their  offspring.  Then, 
too,  the  sorriest  lot  of  criminals  of  both  sexes, 
when  they  are  caught,  generally  get  off  with  a 
couple  of  years  at  the  most,  and  then  continue  their 
misdeeds  unmolested,  and  everywhere  bring  into 
the    world    illegitimate    children    which    they    hand 


23o         PATHOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  LIFE 

over  for  maintenance  and  education  to  the  poor- 
officers  and  the  orphan  and  foundling  asylums. 
Is  it  any  wonder  that  the  products  of  such  a  per- 
verted selection  stand  out  glaringly  as  noxious  social 
dangers  ? 

But  the  worst  of  all,  and  what  increases  the  bad 
selection  we  have  pictured  to  the  highest  power,  is 
the  systematic  alcoholising  of  mankind  on  the 
strength  of  a  bad  custom,  which  is  old  enough  to  be 
sure,  but  which  has  become  an  acute  pestilence  in 
modern  civilisations  because  the  extraordinarily 
cheap  production  of  alcohol,  the  easier  process  for  its 
preservation  in  bulk,  and  the  easier  traffic  and  trans- 
portation have  increased  its  use  tremendously  every- 
where and  made  it  accessible  to  the  poorest  of  devils, 
so  that  instead  of  the  occasional  intoxication  of  our 
ancestors  chronic  alcoholism  has  become  a  general 
modern  disease.  The  easy  profit  which  the  State 
and  private  capitalists  draw  from  the  industry  make 
both  these  powers  deaf  to  the  social  injury.  Their 
main  problem  is  to  help  out  the  budget  or  "  get  rich 
quick,"  and  the  popular  siren  alcohol  is  the  most  con- 
venient means;  so  that  the  majority,  which  is  always 
composed  of  the  selfish  and  cowardly,  never  wearies 
of  its  hypocritical  praise  of  alcohol  and  ridicule  of  the 
abstemious.  One  need  only  look  at  the  consequences 
of  the  monopoly  in  Russia,  and  see  how  Switzerland, 
so  proud  of  its  free  institutions,  intended,  when  the 
monopoly  was  instituted,  to  apply  a  tenth  of  the  rev- 
enue to  combat  the  causes  and  effects  of  alcoholism, 


CAUSES  OF  DISTURBANCES  231 

but  really  diverts  nearly  the  whole  tenth  from  its  legal 
uses  for  fiscal  considerations,  and  with  worthless  ex- 
cuses uses  it  for  the  building  of  prisons  and  lunatic 
asylums,  the  support  of  poor  passing  travellers,  the 
education  of  abandoned  children,  and  the  stopping  of 
other  holes  in  the  cantonal  budgets.  But  what  do 
the  statistics  show  where  they  can  speak?  I  refer  to 
what  has  already  been  said  under  head  A  in  Chapter 
VIII.  The  fact  that  the  tremendous  decrease  in 
alcoholism  in  Sweden  and  Norway  during  the  last 
fifty  years  has  put  a  stop  to  the  increase  of  mental 
disturbances  and  caused  a  positive  increase  in  the 
number  of  able-bodied  recruits,  while  on  the  other 
hand  the  mental  and  nervous  degeneration  of  the 
people  is  strongest  in  the  countries  where  there  is  the 
most  drinking, — this  throws  the  clearest  light  on  a 
main  source  of  the  evil.  The  same  lesson  is  to  be 
learned  wherever  prohibition  communities  are  con- 
trasted with  those  where  drinking  is  profuse.  To 
state  the  matter  most  strikingly  and  concisely,  there 
is  an  increase  of  crime  with  an  increase  of  alcoholic 
consumption,  and  a  decrease  with  its  decrease;  and 
the  same  is  true  of  suicide.  But  the  frequency  of 
crime  and  suicide  is  likewise  a  clear  indication  of  the 
amount  of  nervous  degeneration  in  society,  although 
this  is  also  largely  affected  by  acute  alcoholism. 
Other  causes,  such  as  the  herding  together  of  the 
proletariat  in  great  cities,  in  bad  rooms  or  tenements, 
with  insufficient  food  and  unhealthy  employments, 
undoubtedly  weaken  the  nervous  system;  but  it  is 


232        PATHOLOGY  OF  THE  NERVOUS  LIFE 

hard  to  prove  their  effects  statistically,  and  especially 
hard  to  distinguish  them  fully  from  the  effects  of 
false  selection  in  the  statistics  and  of  alcoholism; 
while  the  consequences  of  the  last  are  experimentally 
demonstrable  by  positive  comparisons  between  ab- 
stinent or  very  temperate  peoples  with  those  under 
otherwise  similar  conditions  who  drink  hard,  or  the 
conditions  of  the  same  people  in  periods  in  which  the 
amount  of  alcohol  consumed  is  different.  But  after 
all,  the  wretched  condition  of  the  Jews  in  Russian 
or  Polish  cities  shows  the  results  of  privation,  where 
alcohol  is  not  involved. 


PART  III 

HYGIENE  OF  THE  MENTAL  LIFE  AND 
OF  THE  NERVOUS  SYSTEM 


233 


PART  III 

HYGIENE  OF  THE  MENTAL  LIFE  AND  OF  THE  NERVOUS 

SYSTEM 

THE  task  of  hygiene  is  not  to  cure  diseases  which 
are  already  present,  but  to  guard  against  all 
their  causes  and  thus  do  all  we  can  to  prevent  them 
from  attacking  particular  individuals  (private  hy- 
giene) and  the  community  as  a  whole  (public  or 
social  hygiene) .  As  the  old  saw  says,  prevention  is 
better  than  cure.  The  word  "  prophylaxis  '  (pre- 
vention) is  thus  practically  synonymous  with  "  hy- 
giene." Every  one  knows  the  old  motto  of  hygiene; 
Mens  sana  in  corpore  sano,  a  sound  mind  dwells  in  a 
sound  body.  But  now  that  we  know  that  mind  and 
living  brain  are  one  and  the  same  the  motto  must 
really  mean:  a  sound  brain  dwells  in  a  body  that  is 
sound  everywhere  else;  though,  to  be  sure,  this  is  not 
always  true,  for  a  very  unsound  brain  can  often 
dwell  in  a  body  otherwise  strong  and  good.  Thus 
we  ought  to  advance  the  health  of  both;  and  that  is 
the  art  of  which  we  must  now  speak,  on  the  basis  of 
what  has  been  said  in  the  first  two  parts.  In  the 
first  part  we  learned  about  the  mental  and  nervous 
life,  its  organ  and  its  development;  in  the  second,  its 

235 


236  NERVOUS  AND  MENTAL  HYGIENE 

morbid  disturbances  and  their  causes.  Our  present 
task  is  therefore  to  speak  of  the  means  for  avoiding 
as  far  as  possible  the  evils  depicted  in  the  second  part. 
The  task  of  hygiene  cannot  be  to  replace  the  physician 
in  cases  of  sickness  or  to  save  from  unavoidable  death ; 
at  the  most  it  can  only  lengthen  life  a  little,  for  it  can- 
not upset  the  natural  evolution  of  the  species.  But 
it  can  do  much  to  mitigate  the  suffering  and  torment 
of  existence,  to  help  give  death  its  true  form  again 
as  the  natural  end  of  the  individual's  evolution,  and 
above  all  to  improve  our  race  so  sadly  afflicted  with 
abnormalities  and  bad  deformities. 

We  shall  divide  the  hygiene  of  the  nervous  system 
into  four  chapters  as  follows: 

I.  General. 

II.  Nervous    hygiene     of    procreation,     or    in- 
heritance. 

III.  Nervous    hygiene    of    development,    or    of 
childhood   (pedagogics). 

IV.  Special  nervous  hygiene  of  the  adult. 
There  is  a  fundamental  proposition  which  I  should 

like  to  lay  down  before  I  begin  this  third  part :  Public,, 
or  rather  social,  hygiene  should  everywhere  be  su- 
perior to  individual  hygiene  when  there  is  a  conflict 
between  them;  and  there  are  many  conflicts.  In 
other  words,  the  hygiene  of  the  nation  has  precedence 
over  that  of  the  family.  If  we  conceive  of  hygiene 
from  this  higher  social  standpoint,  and  it  is  our  duty 
so  to  do,  there  can  and  should  be  no  conflict  between 
hygiene  and  ethics.     Nay,  the  conceptions  of  social 


DIVISIONS  237 

hygiene  and  of  ethics  coincide  in  an  ideal  harmony 
for  which  we  should  strive,  however  many  difficulties 
and  conflicts  may  arise  in  concrete  cases  from  the 
defects  of  our  customs,  our  laws,  and  our  knowledge. 


CHAPTER  IX 

NERVOUS  HYGIENE  IN  GENERAL 

\TERVOUS  hygiene  consists  of  two  sets  of  rules 
^  ^  for  the  conduct  of  life:  negative  and  positive. 
To  the  first  belongs  all  that  we  must  avoid;  to  the 
second,  what  we  must  do. 

1.  Negative.  In  Chapter  VIII.  we  discussed  the 
causes  of  mental  and  nervous  diseases.  The  first 
task  of  hygiene  is  to  avoid  these  causes  as  far  as  pos- 
sible, and  I  shall  not  repeat  here  what  was  said  in 
extenso  there.  No  magic  can  remove  an  hereditary 
tendency  once  present,  but  by  avoiding  all  that  is  in- 
jurious we  can  guard  more  or  less  against  its  unfold- 
ing, and  by  positive  training  we  can  gain  or  develop 
opposing  forces.  But  above  all,  and  this  is  not  dif- 
ficult, we  can  despise  fashion  and  prejudice  and  with 
a  little  energy  keep  far  from  us  one  powerful  group  of 
injuries,  the  various  kinds  of  poisoning.  Hence  the 
first  rule  of  hvgiene:  "  Do  not  make  vourself  sick  bv 
artificial  means  and  do  not  use  such  means  to  kill  your 
nervous  powers."  Accordingly  we  believe  that  the 
first  and  fundamental  condition  for  the  preservation 
of  the  health  of  the  nervous  system  is  consistent,  life- 

238 


GENERAL  239 

long  abstinence  from  all  poisonous  means  of  enjoy- 
ment, especially  from  all  narcotic  poisons,  and  most 
especially  from  all  kinds  of  alcoholic  drinks.  In  this 
requirement  we  must  suffer  no  weakness,  no  half 
measures.  It  belongs  to  social  hygiene  and  to  the 
hygienic  duty  of  every  individual  towards  himself, 
his  family,  the  state,  and  society.  And  even  though 
this  or  that  egoist,  who  feels  himself  very  strong  and 
likes  to  tickle  his  palate  with  beer  or  fine  wine,  should 
explain  a  hundred  times  that  he  personally  is  not  in- 
jured by  a  very  moderate  use  of  alcohol,  yet  in  view 
of  the  social  mischief  that  he  prepares  by  his  example 
we  should  not  accept  this  excuse.  All  those  who  ap- 
parently enjoy  alcohol,  opium,  and  the  like  in  modera- 
tion are  not  only,  as  von  Bunge  so  strikingly  says,  the 
betrayers  of  those  who  succumb;  they  are  the  only 
source,  if  you  like,  the  "  ovary  "  of  alcoholism  and  all 
the  poison-epidemics  which  always  draw  after  them 
the  weakening  of  the  human  brain  and  nervous  sys- 
tem. The  question  can  actually  be  summarised  in 
this  way: 

If  a  stroke  of  magic  should  remove  all  the  victims 
of  alcohol,  morphine,  and  other  narcotics  to-day,  they 
would  be  replaced  again  in  a  few  years  by  others ;  for 
though  thousands  die  off  every  day,  their  number  is 
continually  growing.  If,  on  the  other  hand,  all  mod- 
erate drinkers  and  moderate  users  of  narcotics  should 
be  converted  into  total  abstainers,  there  would 
soon  be  no  more  drunkards  or  narcotic  fiends  at  all. 
Every  one  of  those  who  are  badly  poisoned  began 


24o  NERVOUS  AND  MENTAL  HYGIENE 

with  the  moderate  use;  they  are  all  recruited  from 
the  ranks  of  the  moderate. 

All  the  reasons  given  in  favour  of  the  use  of  nar- 
cotics, and  especially  of  alcohol,  are  sham  reasons  and 
rest  on  sophisms.  Let  people  courageously  leave 
cordials,  wine,  and  beer  alone  and  drink  water,  milk, 
or  fruit  juices,  and  for  all  I  care  a  little  tea  or  coffee 
so  far  as  it  does  not  interfere  with  their  sleep,  and 
they  will  protect  themselves,  their  families,  and  the 
next  generation  from  every  degree  of  alcoholism  and 
from  its  consequences.  The  recipe  is  very  simple, 
and  has  stood  the  test  everywhere.  In  Canada,  Nor- 
way, New  Zealand,  the  United  States,  and  England, 
millions  of  total  abstainers  get  along  magnificently. 
With  us  Swiss,  too,  the  movement  is  slowly  begin- 
ning. God  speed  the  discerning  who  will  join  it 
in  ever-increasing  numbers,  the  sooner  the  better! 
Cowardly  and  pusillanimous  delay  only  brings  new 
injuries,  and  through  it  thousands  of  families  are 
ruined.  So  far  as  possible,  especially  with  nervous 
diseases,  avoid  narcotic  remedies,  such  as  opium,  mor- 
phia, cocain,  hashish,  chloral,  trional,  sulphonal, 
and  the  like.  We  must  also  give  special  warning 
against  two  new  methods  of  corruption  with  which 
we  are  threatened ;  opium  smoking  and  the  inhalation 
of  ether. 

Only  with  cool  unpoisoned  heads  will  a  new  gen- 
eration be  in  a  position  to  make  new  strides  in  cul- 
ture or  to  carry  out  the  other  hygienic  measures  of 
which  we  have  still  to  speak.     That  is  why  we  give 


GENERAL  241 

the  first  place  to  the  fundamental  rule  of  abstinence 
from  all  poisonous  indulgences. 

Unfortunately  drinking  habits  and  customs  are  so 
rooted  in  our  culture  and  supported  by  such  powerful 
prejudices  and  monied  interests  that  nothing  short 
of  a  gigantic  organised  campaign  over  the  whole  sur- 
face of  the  earth  can  do  away  with  this  social  pest. 
Such  a  struggle  will  have  to  be  directed  at  the  same 
time  against  all  narcotics  as  means  of  enjoyment,  for 
each  helps  the  other  and  by  its  special  attractions 
easily  leads  to  bad  habits  and  social  customs. 
Therefore  every  sound  person,  be  he  man  or  woman 
or  child,  who  wishes  to  remain  sound  and  have  sound 
offspring,  and  still  more  every  one  who  has  any  sort 
of  nervous  trouble,  is  urgently  recommended  to  join 
some  total  abstinence  organisation,  so  long  at  least 
as  the  drinking  custom  dominates.  Such  organisa- 
tions furnish  a  society  free  from  alcohol  and  other 
narcotics,  and  corresponding  associations;  they  have 
appropriate  premises  and  temperance  restaurants, 
and  give  the  weak  support  and  protection  against 
the  temptations  which  assail  them  everywhere.1     To 

»  These  organisations  in  German-speaking  countries  comprise  first  and 
most  consistent  of  all,  the  Good  Templars,  who  carry  on  a  most  ener- 
getic social  campaign  against  alcoholic  beverages  (organ:  Der  Deutsche 
Guttempler,  Eppendorferweg  265/67,  Hamburg;  Der  Schweizer  Guttem- 
pler; Lehrer  Zehnder,  Birmenstorf ,  Aargau).  Then  the  Alkoholgegner- 
bund, which  is  less  stringent  (organ;  Internationale  Monatsschrift  sur 
Bekämpfung  der  Trinksitten,  Verlag  von  F.  Reinhardt,  St.  Albanvor- 
stadt  15,  Basel).  Further,  the  Verein  der  Abstinenten  in  Vienna  (organ: 
Der  Abstinent  II  Nordbahnstrasse  30,  Vienna).  Then  there  are  religious 
unions,  such  as  Das  Blaue  Kreuz  (protestant-orthodox)  or  the  Catholic 
Abstinence  League,  and  business  and  professional  unions,  such  as  the 
16 


242  NERVOUS  AND  MENTAL  HYGIENE 

such  organised  armies  of  abstainers  must  be  uncon- 
ditionally ascribed  the  victories  of  the  social  move- 
ment which  we  have  mentioned  in  the  Scandinavian 
peninsula  as  well  as  in  the  Anglo-Saxon  domain. 
To  this  movement  the  hygiene  of  the  brain  and  nerv- 
ous system  is  infinitely  more  indebted  than  to  all 
previous  good  counsels,  teachings,  phrases,  and  de- 
clamations; for  they  fight  the  evil  where  its  roots  are 
deepest.  But  this  is  not  the  place  to  go  into  the 
details  of  the  fight  against  alcohol.  He  who  is  seri- 
ously interested  in  it  can  subscribe  for  the  appropri- 
ate papers,  procure  the  anti-alcoholic  documents  of 
the  Central  Literary  Depot  of  the  Opponents  of  Al- 
cohol,1 and  take  part  in  the  periodic  anti-alcohol 
congresses.  I  must  make  special  mention  of  the  ex- 
cellent and  very  full  book  of  Dr.  Matti  Helenius, 
Die  Alkoholfrage,2  and  Hoppe's  Die  Tatsachen  über 
den  Alkohol.3 

unions  o  abstinent  teachers,  physicians,  railroad  workers,  merchants, 
(Kaufmännische  Abstinenzblätter,  Max  Warming,  Emilienstr.  21,  Ham- 
burg 19),  workmen  (Der  Correspondent  für  abstinente  Arbeiter  Dr.  Otto 
Juliusburger,  Schlachtensee  bei  Berlin),  etc.  Especially  important  are 
the  academic  unions  of  abstainers  in  secondary  schools  and  colleges:  in 
Germany  the  Union  of  Abstinent  Students  and  the  "  Germania."  Then 
there  is  the  Abstainers'  Union  of  German  Schools  (organ:  Die  Abstinenz); 
in  Switzerland  the  "  Libertas"  in  the  colleges  and  the  "  Helvetia"  in  the 
secondary  schools  (organ:  Korrespondenzblatt  für  studierende  Abstinen- 
ten, Zeltweg  66,  Zurich  V).  There  is  certainly  no  lack  of  organisations 
for  all  c  asses  and  calli  There  are  also  abstinence  societies  in  Ger- 

many and  Switzerland  for  women,  and  the  children  can  join  the 
"  children's  temples  "  of  the  Good  Templars  or  the  Band  of  Hope  of  the 
Blue  Cross. 

'Address  Alkoholgegnerbund,  Postfach  4108,  Basel,  Switzerland. 

2  Published  by  Gustav  Fischer,  Jena,  1903. 

3  Berlin  NW  7,  S.  Calvary. 


GENERAL  243 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  we  should  pro- 
tect ourselves  from  other  nervous  poisons  such  as 
lead  and  carbonic  oxide;  that  it  is  better  also  to  avoid 
tobacco;  and  that  we  should  be  moderate  in  the  use 
of  tea  and  coffee,  as  indeed  in  all  our  eating  and 
drinking. 

As  to  the  other  causes  which  we  must  combat  T  re- 
fer to  Chapter  VIII.,  to  avoid  repetition.  Let  us 
turn  now  to  the  general  positive  measures. 

2.  Positive  Measures,  (a)  The  law  of  training 
or  habit.  We  have  seen  already  that  both  the  sub- 
stances of  muscles  and  nerves  and  their  power  of  ex- 
ertion are  strengthened  by  exercise  and  weakened  by 
inactivity;  and  that  in  the  same  way  facility  and  skill 
in  carrying  out  complicated  activities  are  improved 
by  frequent  repetition.  This  fact  is  quite  general 
and  can  be  stated  as  a  law  of  exercise  applicable  to  all 
muscular  and  nervous  action:  Strengthening  and 
increase  through  exercise;  weakening  and  stunting 
through  inactivity. 

It  is  at  once  apparent  that  the  law  of  exercise  stands 
in  a  certain  opposition  to  the  law  of  inheritance.  In- 
herited energies  are  transmitted  through  the  germ 
plasm  of  our  ancestors,  while  the  law  of  exercise  re- 
presents the  attainments  of  the  individual.  But  it  is 
a  fundamental  error  to  put  the  two  laws  in  such  op- 
position that  we  regard  every  single  mental  or  nerv- 
ous faculty  as  "  either  inherited  or  acquired."  Much 
rather  is  every  one  of  these  faculties  both  together, 
inasmuch  as  no  faculty  can  be  attained  without  a 


244  NERVOUS  AND  MENTAL  HYGIENE 

certain  inherited  tendency  and  the  best  natural  tend- 
encies are  dwarfed  when  not  developed  by  exercise. 
We  can  therefore  say  that  the  main  task  of  our  in- 
dividual culture  lies  in  the  development  of  our  good 
and  the  suppression  of  our  bad  tendencies  through 
proper  exercise,  for  the  sake  of  fashioning  an  har- 
monious personality.  That  is  also  the  task  of  a 
proper  nerve  hygiene.  Here  we  must  not  forget 
that  the  term  "  exercise,"  or  "  practice  "  or  "  habit ': 
{Übung)  is  by  no  means  to  be  confined  to  muscular 
exercise  and  technical  dexterities,  but  is  used  in  a 
broad  sense  to  include  the  exercise  of  all  mental  and 
nervous  faculties.  One  exercises  himself  in  seeing, 
hearing,  perceiving,  thinking,  abstracting,  in  ethical 
and  aesthetic  feelings,  in  standing  heat  and  cold,  and 
in  carrying  out  his  resolutions,  unfortunately,  too,  in 
lying,  swearing,  gambling,  sexual  excesses,  or  idling, 
precisely  as  much  as  in  cycling,  fencing,  cooking,  or 
polishing.  But  the  law  of  exercise  gains  an  en- 
hanced value  in  the  light  of  the  mnemetic  phenomena 
already  discussed  in  Chapter  V.  It  means  a  strength- 
ened many-sided  engraphy  which  as  such  not  only 
increases  the  capacities  of  the  individual,  but  also 
quietly  cultivates  later  ecphories,  though  perhaps  only 
infinitesimally,  for  much  later  generations. 

Proper  exercise  consists  of  regular  training  in 
which  all  sudden  overexertions  and  feats  of  strength 
are  avoided.  We  gain  slowly  but  surely  in  strength 
and  skill  when  we  persistently  repeat  things  every 
day,  or  at  least  very  often,  and  each  time  do  a  little 


GENERAL  245 

more.  Here  there  is  a  fundamental  difference  be- 
tween muscular  and  nervous  tissue.  By  continuous, 
increasing  activity  the  muscle  is  strengthened  and  en- 
larged rather  quickly,  and  then  through  long  rest  and 
inactivity  it  quickly  loses  what  it  has  gained.  But 
what  has  once  been  thoroughly  worked  into  brain  and 
nerve  centres  in  general  is  preserved  at  least  in 
essence  so  long  as  the  tissues  retain  their  health. 
Thus  knowledge  and  finer  feelings  and  technical 
facilities  are  preserved  on  the  whole  for  years,  though 
not  strengthened  by  exercise.  Even  when  we  think 
we  have  forgotten,  a  very  little  repetition  is  enough 
to  restore  our  former  attainments.  The  neurone 
thus  possesses  a  cumulative  power  of  attaining  and 
preserving  which  is  almost  foreign  to  the  muscle. 
Even  the  intestinal  and  visceral  nerves  can  be 
practised. 

The  preservation  of  health  and  the  strong  de- 
velopment of  the  nervous  life  thus  demand  a  constant 
exercise  and  further  development  of  this  life  during 
its  whole  duration  from  birth  to  death.  It  is  false 
to  believe  that  we  have  to  learn  only  in  youth;  we 
have  never  finished.  Learning  or  the  working  in  of 
new  nervous  activities  belongs  to  the  foundation  of 
a  sound  nervous  hygiene,  to  the  preservation  of  nerv- 
ous force,  and  the  elasticity  of  nervous  action.  He 
who  is  not  constantly  learning  and  exercising  not  only 
loses  strength  but  runs  the  risk  of  becoming  mechani- 
cal, automatic,  stiff,  and  awkward,  of  falling  into  a 
fussy  routine,  from  whose  deeply  ingrained  and  ever- 


246  NERVOUS  AND  MENTAL  HYGIENE 

identical  path  he  will  then  find  it  harder  and  harder 
to  tear  himself.  The  most  beautiful  hereditary  gifts, 
the  best  brain-forces,  become  dwarfed  in  inactivity 
and  also  in  one-sidedly  repeated  action  that  never 
practises  new  paths. 

The  following  points  are  to  be  especially  noted  in 
regard  to  the  law  of  exercise: 

Though  practice  makes  perfect,  this  is  not  true  of 
overexertion  to  the  point  of  exhaustion.  The  nerv- 
ous system  unconditionally  demands  the  restoration 
of  its  substance  after  vigorous  action,  and  for  this 
restoration  are  necessary,  first,  sufficient  nourish- 
ment derived  from  food  and  conveyed  by  the  blood, 
and,  second,  adequate  periods  of  repose  for  the  neu- 
rones. This  is  not  the  place  to  discuss  the  hygiene  of 
digestion,  of  the  circulation,  and  of  the  bodily  nour- 
ishment in  general.  I  refer,  amongst  others,  to  the 
books  of  the  Bibliothek  der  Gesundheitspflege  x  and 
only  remark  that  the  brain,  which  is  rich  in  blood,  de- 
mands proper  nourishment  for  its  work  of  thinking, 
feeling,  and  willing.  This  is  forgotten  far  too  often, 
especially  by  adherents  of  the  dualistic  point  of 
view,  who  conceive  of  an  incorporeal  soul  dominating 
the  flesh  and  drawing  its  strength  from  the  Nothing 
through  God  knows  what  ascetic  practices.  Mystical 
dualistic  notions  of  the  world  have  sinned  grievously 
against  hygiene  by  regarding  mental  work  as  some- 
thing outside  of  bodily  functions  and  thinking  that 
by  fasting  and  mortification  they  can  strengthen  the 

1  Published  by  C.  H.  Moritz  in  Stuttgart. 


GENERAL  247 

spirit  and  subdue  the  body.  There  is  a  soul  of  truth 
in  this  I  admit,  yet  only  in  the  sense  that  mankind 
eats  too  much,  drinks  a  great  deal  too  much,  and 
overdoes  things  sexually,  so  that  a  little  fasting  on  a 
cold-water  regimen  is  excellent,  especially  with  the 
well-fed  and  gouty,  and  sexual  continence  is  much 
more  healthy  than  excess.  On  the  other  hand,  as- 
ceticism is  uncommonly  hurtful  when  it  leads  to  sleep- 
lessness, to  chronic  underfeeding,  and  to  an  unnatural 
mode  of  life;  for  these  end  in  exhaustion,  all  sorts 
of  nervous  disturbances,  and  not  seldom  insanity. 
Proper  nourishment  should  be  moderate  but  sufficient 
and  free  from  extremes  and  excesses. 

But  here  we  meet  a  frequent  objection.  When  we 
warmly  recommend  bodily  exertions,  technical  dex- 
terities, cycling,  and  other  sports,  people  come  to  us 
with  the  scarecrow  of  dilatation  of  the  heart  and  other 
injuries  which  bicyclists,  racers,  and  other  athletes 
have  brought  on  by  their  violent  exertions.  These 
bad  effects  of  such  muscular  exertions,  often  over- 
done to  the  point  of  absurdity,  are  due  principally 
to  the  fact  that  the  law  of  exercise  has  been  completely 
misunderstood  and  broken,  In  place  of  a  slow  and 
prudent  training  which  always  secures  restoration, 
repose,  and  reconstruction  for  the  tissues,  foolish 
overexertions  are  made  in  a  short  time  and  super- 
human efforts  are  expected  from  the  human  body 
without  sufficient  preparation.  One  should  not  get 
out  of  breath  and  put  his  heart  into  violent  palpita- 
tions; and  if  he  trains  himself  as  did  Frith j  of  Nansen, 


248  NERVOUS  AND  MENTAL  HYGIENE 

for  example,  that  does  not  happen.  Further,  the 
people  who  are  injured  often  allow  themselves  mod- 
erate or  immoderate  quantities  of  alcohol  between  or 
after  contests ;  and  this  tends  to  weaken  the  muscle  of 
the  heart,  and  leads  or  predisposes  to  dilatation.  The 
man  who  has  always  left  alcohol  alone  and  is  at  all 
reasonable  and  prudent  in  his  training  will  not  get 
fatty  degeneration  or  enlargement  of  the  heart  so 
easily,  even  if  he  is  weak. 

(b)  Sleep.  To  supply  nourishment  to  the  nerv- 
ous system  is  not  sufficient  in  itself;  for  a  continuous 
exertion  of  the  neurones  finally  reduces  them  to  a 
state  of  exhaustion  which  may  be  so  marked  that  it 
can  be  shown  under  the  microscope  in  the  ganglion 
cells  (Hodge  and  others).  Hence  time  and  rest 
must  be  given  to  build  them  up  again  through  the 
blood.  Simply  sitting  or  lying  down  gives  oppor- 
tunity for  this  to  the  spinal  cord  and  ganglia ;  but  the 
brain,  the  organ  of  thought,  requires  sleep.  In  other 
words,  the  cerebral  neurones  which  have  been  work- 
ing together  must  be  relieved  from  their  concen- 
trated activity  of  attention.  The  importance  of  sleep 
as  rest  for  the  brain  has  been  much  misunderstood. 
The  more  we  work  mentally  the  more  sleep  we  re- 
quire. But  strenuous  muscular  exertion  in  what  we 
call  "  bodily "  activities,  such  as  walking,  riding, 
digging  or  factory  work,  means  work  for  the  brain 
too,  and  also  requires  sleep. 

All  sleep  is  by  no  means  of  equal  value.  Many 
people  think  that  they  do  not  sleep,  because  their 


GENERAL  249 

sleep  is  light  and  there  is  not  a  complete  break  be- 
tween the  chain  of  their  dreams  and  the  chain  of  their 
waking  consciousness.  Such  a  total  break  is  indi- 
cated by  a  complete  amnesia  (or  forgetting),  and  if 
we  know  nothing  more  about  the  time  when  we  were 
asleep  we  say  that  we  have  slept  very  well.  And  yet 
some  kinds  of  light  sleep  give  more  rest  than  certain 
kinds  of  apparently  deep  sleep,  namely  those  in  which 
there  are  nightmares  or  vivid  dreams  or  even  sleep- 
walking (somnambulism).  There  are  sleep-walk- 
ers who  even  do  heavy  housework  in  their  sleep. 
To  be  sure,  when  they  wake  up  they  have  the  feeling 
that  they  have  slept  soundly,  and  yet  they  are  very 
tired,  exhausted,  broken  up.  By  hypnotic  sugges- 
tion sleep  can  be  localised.  Then  only  a  small  part 
of  the  cerebral  activity  sleeps,  while  the  remainder  is 
awake  and  the  man  thinks  from  that  that  he  is  alto- 
gether awake.  But  on  the  other  hand  a  whole  train 
of  localised  activities  can  be  kept  awake  during  the 
deepest  sleep.  Thus  as  director  of  the  insane  asylum 
at  Zurich  I  was  able  to  induce  a  deep,  refreshing  sleep 
with  certain  attendants  and  yet  to  practise  them  so 
that  they  noticed  certain  dangerous  proceedings  on 
the  part  of  patients  and  immediately  awoke  when  the 
patients  in  question  began  an  attempt  at  suicide  or 
anything  else  improper.  A  mother  may  sleep  away 
peacefully  in  spite  of  her  husband's  worst  snores  yet 
wake  at  the  slightest  whimper  from  her  infant.  By 
suggestion  I  made  a  person  unable  for  a  considerable 
time  to  find  a  word  when  she  was  talking,  though  she 


250  NERVOUS  AND  MENTAL  HYGIENE 

knew  it  perfectly  well;  that  means  a  very  circum- 
scribed dissociation,  or  circumscribed  sleep.  From 
these  few  hints  it  is  evident  that  we  cannot  lay  down 
any  absolute  rule  as  to  the  amount  of  sleep  that  any- 
body needs ;  and  if  we  demand  at  least  seven  or  eight 
hours  for  the  average  adult,  this  cannot  be  taken  as 
an  absolute  rule.  Many  elderly  people  whose  life  is 
regular  and  does  not  demand  much  thinking  get 
along  very  well  with  five  or  six  hours,  or  even  less, 
because  when  they  are  awake  they  have  many  periods 
of  rest  which  are  often  half  as  good  as  sleep.  On  the 
other  hand,  it  is  often  a  good  thing  after  very  strenu- 
ous exertions  of  the  whole  nervous  system  to  make 
up  for  the  exhaustion  by  long  subsequent  sleep. 

It  is  also  of  high  importance  for  hygiene  to  train 
yourself  in  sleeping,  i.  e.,  to  get  the  habit  of  being  able 
to  sleep  at  any  time  and  not  be  tied  down  to  definite 
hours  and  places.  By  mollycoddling  we  make  sleep 
harder.  A  person  can  accomplish  more  if  he  is  able 
to  go  to  sleep  at  any  time,  on  any  board,  in  any  third- 
class  railroad  carriage,  on  any  chair,  so  long  as  he 
only  has  the  time.  The  best  way  to  ruin  sleep  is 
to  misuse  the  evening  for  the  hardest  mental  work 
and  strain  to  keep  awake  or  artificially  force  yourself 
to  it  with  large  doses  of  tea  or  coffee.  Forced 
brain  action  of  this  sort  is  unhealthy  to  the  highest 
degree.  But  it  is  worse  still  to  get  the  sleep  back 
again  afterwards  by  narcotics.  Sleep  induced  in 
that  way  is  really  a  kind  of  torpor  brought  on  by 
poison  and  gradually  drives  away  natural  sleep,  be- 


GENERAL  251 

cause  the  brain  is  chronically  poisoned  and  at  the 
same  time  trained  to  depend  on  artificial  aids  to  sleep. 
Any  one  who  accustoms  himself  to  opium  or  morphia 
gradually  becomes  completely  sleepless,  unless  he  has 
the  aid  of  these  drugs.  A  natural,  harmonious  mode 
of  life  is  the  best  mode  of  avoiding  sleeplessness,  and 
hypnotic  suggestion  the  best  means  for  gradually 
removing  any  disturbances  of  sleep  that  may  have 
arisen  and  for  again  attaining  normal  sleep;  which 
should  not  then  be  endangered  afresh  by  inappropri- 
ate modes  of  life. 

The  fundamental  conditions  of  a  sound  brain  and 
nerve  life  are  thus  a  normal  hereditary  disposition,  the 
avoidance  of  poisoning,  especially  chronic  poisoning, 
constant  exercise,  good  nourishment,  and  the  neces- 
sary sleep.  These  foundations  of  nervous  hygiene 
should  not  be  disturbed;  a  few  short  transgressions 
against  them  may  be  borne  if  one  is  good  and  strong ; 
but  if  anybody  breaks  one  of  these  rules  continually 
he  pays  for  it  with  at  least  a  part  of  his  nervous 
health.  Yet  here,  too,  inherited  tendencies  play  a  tre- 
mendous part,  and  while  strong  normal  people  can 
stand  relatively  many  encroachments  on  the  law  of 
exercise,  of  sleep,  and  of  nourishment,  those  with 
psychopathic  tendencies  often  succumb  to  very  slight 
excesses. 

3.  Harmony  and  Choice  ( Wahl) .  In  the  first 
four  chapters  we  learned  how  many-sided  nervous 
activity  is.  If  any  one  exercises  only  one  given  ac- 
tivity,  such  as   a  definite  muscular  movement,   the 


252  NERVOUS  AND  MENTAL  HYGIENE 

muscle  in  question  undoubtedly  becomes  very  strong, 
and  so  does  the  corresponding  path  of  neurones. 
But  then  everything  else  can  be  stunted.  The  same 
is  true  of  a  person  who  spends  his  whole  life  riding  to 
death  some  one  circle  of  ideas  or  feeling  or  habit.  In 
this  way  people  who  are  not  exactly  crazy  can  become 
monomaniacs;  like  the  chess-player  whose  whole  life 
is  filled  with  chess,  the  mother  whose  love  for  an  only 
child  so  outgrows  all  other  feelings  that  it  degenerates 
into  an  idolatry  that  is  highly  injurious  and  leads  to 
all  sorts  of  follies,  or  the  man  who  has  turned  all  his 
energies  to  a  petty  invention  that  is  going  to  make 
him  rich  and  wears  himself  out,  often  for  nothing. 
All  these  one-sided  exercises  involve  a  stunting  of  the 
other  brain  activities,  and  unless  they  be  exercises  in 
the  useful  arts,  they  seldom  lead  to  anything  profit- 
able. A  good  hygiene  of  the  nervous  system  thus 
includes  an  harmonious  exercise  of  all  parts  of  the 
nervous  life, — of  concrete  sense-perception,  of  all 
muscular  actions,  of  intellect,  of  feeling,  of  will,  and 
also  of  imagination,  the  combining  tendency  which 
opens  new  pathways  for  the  brain's  action. 

Here  it  will  be  objected  that  the  tremendous  spe- 
cialisation of  knowledge  nowadays  is  directly  opposed 
to  any  such  harmonious  development.  In  theory  it 
sounds  very  well  to  demand  that  the  brain  and  all  the 
rest  of  the  body  shall  be  harmoniously  developed  in 
every  respect,  but  that  will  not  get  you  anywhere  in 
the  world;  it  does  not  give  the  necessary  dexterity 
in  special  fields.     I  admit  that  "  the  shop  "  does  seem 


GENERAL  253 

to  have  become  the  modern  ideal  with  many  people; 
but  those  who  understand  culture  in  that  way  do  not 
understand  how  blind  their  one-sidedness  makes  them 
and  how  much  they  have  to  suffer  on  account  of  it. 
We  do  not  by  any  means  overlook  the  necessity  for  di- 
vision of  labour  and  the  one-sided  training  in  certain 
departments  which  it  involves.  But  it  is  a  colossal 
error  to  begin  this  in  youth  and  to  be  so  hypnotised 
by  the  details  of  a  trade  or  profession  as  to  neglect 
the  harmonious  development  of  the  brain  as  a  whole. 
Without  this  last  the  whole  life  is  stunted  and  when 
the  whole  life  is  stunted  the  individual  part  comes  to 
grief  as  well.  The  judgment  also  suffers  because 
the  individual  overestimates  his  special  field  of  activ- 
ity and  misunderstands  the  significance  of  others, 
thus  viewing  everything  one-sidedly  and  falsely. 
Any  one  who  sets  out  from  earliest  youth  to  exercise 
only  one  part  of  his  brain  and  let  everything  else  go 
to  seed  runs  the  risk  of  going  to  pieces  with  con- 
stitutional mental  abnormality,  insanity,  weak-mind- 
edness, or  bodily  sickliness,  such  as  tuberculosis.  We 
can  therefore  lay  down  the  following  practical  rule. 
Cultivate  all  your  nervous  and  mental  activities 
harmoniously  all  your  life  long  in  order  to  keep  the 
whole  machinery,  from  the  highest  faculties  of  ab- 
straction to  the  coarsest  muscular  powers,  healthy  and 
capable  of  discriminating  work.  Then  to  be  sure  you 
should  attain  thorough  knowledge  and  dexterity  in  at 
least  one  branch  and  master  it  completely,  so  as  to  have 
a  calling.    Any  one  with  normal  health  who  avoids  all 


254  NERVOUS  AND  MENTAL  HYGIENE 

narcotics  and  consistently  obeys  the  law  of  exercise 
will  find  that  these  two  aims  can  both  be  followed  to- 
gether excellently.  Through  the  general  harmonious 
development  one  attains  or  retains  his  well-being,  his 
elasticity,  and  a  broader  horizon,  as  well  as  a  sound 
faculty  of  judgment,  normal  feelings,  and  the  power 
of  resolution.  By  the  specialisation  in  one  or  more 
fields  (in  several  if  one  has  the  strength  and  capacity) 
one  learns  to  respect  thoroughness  and  to  overcome 
difficulties,  and  he  avoids  falling  into  a  flat  dilettante- 
ism  through  superficial  and  hasty  generalisations ;  one 
learns  to  realise  that  in  every  branch  of  knowledge 
progress  is  only  possible  through  deep  penetration; 
one  is  more  modest  and  learns  at  least  to  value  and 
respects  other  fields  of  knowledge  in  which  he  is  not 
sufficiently  at  home,  because  on  the  one  side  he  re- 
cognises their  importance  from  their  connection  with 
the  whole  and  on  the  other  he  learns  from  the  diffi- 
culties which  he  encounters  in  his  own  field  to  respect 
those  of  the  other.  He  thus  avoids  the  two  greatest 
dangers  of  mental  development,  superficiality  and 
narrowness.  When  we  speak  of  harmony  we  must 
insist  once  more  upon  the  great  importance  of  the  life 
of  feeling  and  will.  What  good  does  it  do  to  ap- 
propriate a  mass  of  knowledge  if  it  withers  your 
spirit  or  if  you  cannot  use  it?  The  effort  to  adapt 
ourselves  to  the  higher  ethical  requirements,  fulfil  our 
duties  towards  our  fellow-men,  and  foster  the  feel- 
ing of  solidarity;  the  cultivation  of  the  ideal  and 
training  in  consecutiveness,  persistence,  and  the  exe- 


GENERAL  255 

cution  of  resolutions  though  it  may  take  years  to 
carry  them  out ; — these  things  keep  building  character 
during  the  whole  of  one's  life  and  thus  have  far  more 
value  even  for  the  individual  than  a  one-sided  ency- 
clopaedic sciolism. 

One  must  not  only  have  a  specialty  or  life-work, 
but  must  exercise  his  muscles,  his  senses,  his  thought, 
his  feeling,  his  fancy,  and  his  will  consistently  and  in 
every  direction. 

Moreover  the  law  of  exercise  must  be  brought  into 
harmony  with  inherited  tendencies.  Undoubtedly 
patience  and  persistence  can  teach  an  unmusical  per- 
son to  pound  the  piano,  and  make  a  banker  out  of 
a  born  artist.  But  that  is  taking  a  great  deal  of 
trouble  to  make  bad  bankers  and  bad  musicians.  The 
greatest  folly  which  parents  can  commit  is  to  force 
their  children  into  callings  for  which  they  have  no 
aptitude.  What  we  have  already  said  under  head 
"  2  "  *  gives  us  the  key  to  the  right  procedure.  The 
harmonious  development  of  the  brain  no  doubt  re- 
quires the  exercise  of  faculties  for  which  one  has  no 
special  taste  and  no  talent;  and  this  is  very  good,  for 
we  cannot  afford  to  let  any  part  of  our  nervous  life 
go  to  waste.  But  what  we  have  said  is  not  true  of 
specialising.  A  clumsy  person  should  learn  gymnas- 
tics and  swimming  and  cycling,  but  not  become  a 
teacher  of  gymnastics  or  a  professional  swimmer. 
An  unmusical  person  may  learn  the  notes  and  I 
think  he  might  also  try  his  hand  at  strumming  and 

1  See  p.  243. 


256  NERVOUS  AND  MENTAL  HYGIENE 

singing,  but  he  should  not  inflict  his  attainments  on 
others ;  and  on  the  other  hand,  he  should  specially  cul- 
tivate the  things  with  which  he  is  naturally  fitted  to 
accomplish  something  worth  while.  If  one  will  pro- 
ceed as  we  have  suggested  even  though  he  be  a  simple 
working  man,  the  constant  contact  between  his  gen- 
eral culture  and  his  special  knowledge  will  broaden 
his  mental  horizon,  bring  about  excellent  combina- 
tions, and  continually  open  new  roads  to  the  spirit; 
he  will  cultivate  himself  throughout  his  whole  life. 
Of  course  individual  talents  are  very  different.  He 
who  has  little  talent  of  any  sort  should  not  force  him- 
self through  vanity  to  try  and  conquer  unattainable 
fields.  There  are  many  healthy  and  modest  callings 
which  offer  full  satisfaction  to  moderate  or  inferior  tal- 
ents, if  one  will  only  take  the  trouble  to  make  constant 
progress  in  them ;  such  as  agriculture  and  the  simplest 
trades.  But  with  these  very  callings  it  is  most  neces- 
sary to  fill  out  one's  free  time  with  continued 
harmonious  cultivation  in  other  directions,  while  un- 
fortunately most  people  dissipate  it  in  idleness  and 
crude,  stupid  pleasures.  Think  how  much  peasants 
could  do  for  their  culture  on  Sundays  and  winter 
evenings  and  how  much  it  would  add  to  their  pleasure 
and  the  j  oy  of  living  and  their  mental  elevation !  And 
then  think  how  much  the  proletariat  of  the  pen,  the 
sewing  machine,  and  the  shop  would  gain  by  chop- 
ping wood  or  other  simple,  useful  work,  by  garden- 
ing and  nature  study,  not  only  in  the  matter  of  bodily 
health  but  even — you  may  solemnly  shake  your  head 


GENERAL 


257 


if  you  like — in  mental  horizon.  Our  ideas  of  the  Sun- 
day rest  are  fundamentally  reversed  in  many  ways> 
because  the  relations  of  things  have  changed  com- 
pletely since  the  time  of  Christ.  It  is  absolutely 
ridiculous  that  in  many  places  religious  narrowness 
and  bigotry  make  such  unreasonable  and  often  ty- 
rannical prohibitions  for  Sunday,  such  as  the  pro- 
hibition of  farmwork,  chopping,  and  the  like.  Pure 
idleness  and,  still  worse,  the  customary  drinking  and 
jollification  (Kneipereien)  make  a  perfectly  im- 
moral and  unhygienic  Sunday  rest;  and  though  the 
farmer,  the  smith,  or  the  postman  undoubtedly 
spends  his  Sunday  most  advantageously  in  reading 
and  the  cultivation  of  his  mind,  the  clerk,  the  writer, 
and  the  seamstress  find  the  best  and  healthiest  Sun- 
day recuperation  in  muscular  exertion,  and  for  them 
sawing  word  or  work  in  field  or  garden  would  be  a 
good  deed. 

Nay,  more!  Change  of  activity  makes  certain  ap- 
parent excesses  of  work  permissible,  because  it  en- 
ables some  groups  of  neurones  to  rest  while  others 
work.  And  moreover  the  elasticity  of  the  brain  and 
its  power  of  adaptation  are  trained  by  such  changes. 
One  learns,  so  to  speak,  to  quickly  close  or  open  the 
'  switch  "  between  one  activity  and  the  other.  And 
thus  one  becomes  freer  in  the  true  and  profound  sense 
of  the  word. 

4.  Natural  and  Artificial.  The  expressions 
"  nature,"  "  natural,"  "  natural  way  of  living  "  are 
nowadays  badly  misused.  Every  one  gabbles  about 
17 


258  NERVOUS  AND  MENTAL  HYGIENE 

them  and  nobody  knows  exactly  what  he  ought  to 
mean  by  them.  The  contrast  between  natural  and 
artificial  is  relative  throughout,  and  most  people  un- 
derstand by  natural  only  what  their  prejudices  and 
their  routine  suggest  to  them  as  such.  In  reality 
everything  that  human  art  has  created  is  quite  as 
natural  as  any  other  product  of  nature,  for  man  is 
himself  a  part  of  nature  and  his  products  are  only 
the  offspring  of  his  natural  mind,  i.  e.»  of  his  brain. 
By  no  means,  therefore,  should  hygiene  despise  art 
and  science  and  their  products,  but,  on  the  contrary, 
it  should  make  clear  to  itself  which  of  them  are 
favourable  to  a  healthy  normal  development  of  our 
civilised  races  and  which  are  harmful.  It  is  often 
said  that  man  ought  not  to  trespass  upon  the  govern- 
ment of  nature,  and  so  on.  These  words  are  ambigu- 
ous, and  require  an  exact  analysis,  for  the  blossoms 
cultivated  by  the  new-fangled  "  science  of  natural 
therapeutics '  (Naturheilkunde)  are  of  a  kind  to 
imperatively  demand  it. 

Yet  in  the  criticisms  of  medical  science  on  the  part 
of  those  who  call  themselves  nature-physicians  as  well 
as  in  the  cry  "  Return  to  Nature,"  there  is  this  much 
correct,  that  the  growth  of  individual  branches  of 
knowledge  in  the  medical  schools,  in  most  Sanator- 
iums, and  amongst  scientifically  educated  physicians 
in  general,  has  built  up  a  fateful  error,  which,  how- 
ever, is  to  be  ascribed,  not  to  science,  but  to  human 
weakness.  While  pure  science  is  continually  investi- 
gating   and    doubting,    because    every    discovery    it 


GENERAL  259 

makes  arouses  new  questions,  the  art  of  medicine,  on 
the  contrary,  demands  immediate  action,  no  matter 
whether  we  know  or  not.  The  patient  wants  to  be 
cured  and  he  generally  wants  to  be  deceived  as  well. 
This  is  as  old  as  the  world,  and  the  answer  to  be  made 
by  the  medical  artist  is  only  too  obvious  and  con- 
venient: "  Be  humbugged;  you  will  be  satisfied  and 
we  shall  have  our  profit."  Nay,  every  one  knows  that 
even  the  most  honourable  physician  cannot  possibly 
get  along  everywhere  with  the  plain  truth;  pure  hu- 
manity itself  demands  of  him  many  a  pious  lie.  The 
consequence  is  that  in  the  tremendous  complexity  of 
symptoms  and  the  difficulties  of  diagnosis,  prognosis, 
and  treatment  to  which  they  give  rise,  the  physician 
involuntarily  gets  into  the  way  of  filling  in,  where  he 
does  not  know,  with  little  dogmatic  assumptions  and 
compromises  with  his  conscience;  and  that  puts  him 
in  constant  danger  of  falling  into  the  fundamental 
evil  of  slap-dash  work  and  humbugging.  And  he 
finds  those  methods  of  treatment  most  convenient 
whose  effectiveness  or  ineffectiveness  cannot  be  scien- 
tifically demonstrated. 

The  most  convenient  method  of  all  is  to  try  and 
make  use  of  chemical  influences  on  the  bodily  pro- 
cesses, and,  more  especially,  to  prescribe  the  medica- 
ments of  the  apothecary ;  because  we  know  practically 
nothing  of  the  chemistry  of  life  and  we  simply  do  not 
know  how  they  affect  it.  We  see  only  certain  strik- 
ing mediate  or  immediate  effects  which  greatly  im- 
press the  patient,  but  we  overlook  and  misunderstand 


26o  NERVOUS  AND  MENTAL  HYGIENE 

all  the  concealed  subsidiary  effects  which  may  be  lurk- 
ing there  and  often  only  come  to  light  after  a  long 
time  or  are  never  recognised  as  such  at  all.  More- 
over we  ascribe  to  all  sorts  of  so-called  remedies 
effects  which  are  due  to  nothing  more  than  pure  sug- 
gestion, i.  e.,  to  the  confident  idea  of  the  patient  and 
its  influence  on  his  brain,  and  through  the  brain  on  the 
rest  of  his  body.  These  serious  defects  of  medica- 
ments (of  the  druggist's  "remedies"),  except  the 
poisoning,  are  also  to  be  found  in  all  the  possible  and 
impossible  "  physical  remedies,"  such  as  electricity, 
water-cure,  bath-cure,  and  so  on.  How  all  the  non- 
sense is  supposed  to  work,  no  one  has  any  definite 
idea;  and  on  this  account  all  the  more  phrases  and 
grandiloquent  pseudo-scientific  discourses  are  thrown 
at  the  public,  often  for  the  pure  sake  of  money-mak- 
nig,  and  they  do  not  fail  of  their  effect  with  the  credu- 
lous masses.  In  these  cures  also  a  principal  part  is 
played  by  suggestion;  though  to  be  sure  healthy 
muscular  activity,  good  air  and  nourishment,  and  im- 
proved digestion  also  contribute  to  the  favourable 
results.  The  fun  of  it  all  is  that  every  quack  claims 
'  Nature  "  for  himself.  Every  one  of  them  has  the 
only  proper  natural  method;  but  what  Nature 
is  he  knows  no  better  than  the  rest,  for  it  is 
not  such  a  simple  question  as  it  seems.  Almost  all 
of  these  curative  agencies,  so  far  as  their  effects 
are  due  to  anything  objective,  can  be  found 
cheaply  enough  in  the  open  country  without  ex- 
pensive "  cures,"  and  the  bathing  salts  of  the  cura- 


GENERAL  261 

tive  waters  could  be  cheaply  replaced  by  almost  any 
spring. 

In  reality  precious  little  can  be  gotten  out  of  the 
words  "  Nature  "  and  ,:'  natural."  It  would  be  far 
better  for  medicine  if  the  patient  as  well  as  the  physi- 
cian would  be  honest  with  himself;  if  the  patient 
would  always  say  to  the  doctor:  "  Doctor,  if  you  do 
not  know  exactly  how  the  remedy  which  you  recom- 
mend works  and  why  you  give  it,  then  I  'd  rather  you 
would  leave  it  alone,"  and  if  the  physician  had  the 
courage  to  say  to  the  patient:  "  Since  there  is  nothing 
to  do  but  have  patience,  I  '11  give  you  no  drugs  that 
do  no  good,  and  I  '11  not  send  you  to  expensive  baths 
when  a  couple  of  bicycle  trips  or  vigorous  walks  on 
the  mountains  will  do  you  as  much  or  more  good." 

I  certainly  do  not  mean  to  condemn  all  chemical 
and  physical  remedies  by  the  wholesale;  but  it  is 
certain  that  people  generally  use  ten  times  too  many 
remedies  and  cure  places,  and  that  by  way  of  reaction 
this  misuse  has  at  last  called  forth  the  unscientific 
fanaticism  of  natural  methods  with  its  uncritical  and 
crassly  ignorant  calumnies  of  scientific  medicine. 
But  this  will  have  the  benefit  of  compelling  people  to 
gradually  introduce  more  criticism  and  more  honour 
into  the  healing  art. 

We  must  now  accept  the  following  standpoint.  In 
such  a  confused  region  as  the  metabolism  of  the  living 
protoplasm,  and  especially  of  the  nervous  elements,  a 
region  to  which  we  have  no  strictly  scientific  guide, 
the  only  thing  to  decide  is  a  sound,  objective,  practi- 


2Ö2  NERVOUS  AND  MENTAL  HYGIENE 

cal  experience.  We  must  not  toss  words  and  dogmas 
and  sententious  phrases  about,  but  submit  every  part 
of  our  supposed  information  to  a  careful,  critical  ex- 
amination. In  so  doing  we  should  reject  much  that 
appears  natural  and  accept  much  that  passes  for 
artificial,  and  vice  versa.  For  example:  A  pair  ol 
spectacles  is  certainly  the  product  of  human  art.  Yet 
any  one  who  is  short-sighted  or  long-sighted  or  astig- 
matic is  right  in  wearing  them,  because  otherwise  he 
sees  badly  and  injures  himself  and  it  is  a  matter  of  ex- 
perience that  properly  fitted  glasses  do  him  much  good 
and  no  harm.  In  the  same  way  it  is  hygienically  bet- 
ter to  wear  artificial  teeth  than  to  allow  one's  diges- 
tion to  be  ruined  from  toothlessrtess.  On  the  other 
hand,  it  is  extremely  natural  to  expectorate  when  one 
has  catarrh  and  to  relieve  other  physical  needs.  But 
if  one  did  it  everywhere  he  happened  to  be,  as  the 
'  natural  animals  "  do,  he  would  pollute  house  and 
ground  with  bacteria  and  spread  filth  and  infection 
broadcast.  And  so  one  must  make  use  of  a  proper 
handkerchief  and  other  proper  contrivances  that  se- 
cure cleanliness  and  disinfection,  unless  he  happens 
to  be  in  a  forest  solitude  where  the  plants  take  care 
of  it.  Such  commonplace  illustrations  could  be  mul- 
tiplied a  hundredfold,  but  they  are  enough  to  show 
the  mischief  that  can  be  made  with  the  words  "  natu- 
ral "  and  "  artificial."  To  talk  of  natural  wine  is  a 
sophism;  one  might  as  well  speak  of  natural  morphia 
or  natural  tramways  or  natural  antipyrin;  it  is  only 
the  grape  that  nature  produces  without  human  in- 


GENERAL  263 

tervention.  And  even  here  we  might  quarrel  about 
words  and  say  that  our  garden  fruit  and  finer  varie- 
ties of  grapes  are  the  products  of  artificial  selection, 
exactly  as  we  can  say  on  the  other  hand  that  fermen- 
tation, the  action  of  electricity  in  the  tramway  ac- 
cumulators and  the  chemical  means  by  which  we  make 
antipyrin  rest  on  natural  processes. 

What  we  have  said  here  is  necessary  if  we  are  to 
succeed  in  laying  the  foundation  of  a  sound  nervous 
hygiene,  in  view  of  the  catchwords  bandied  about  so 
commonly  nowadays  by  swindle  and  thoughtlessness. 
Yet  behind  the  outcry  against  everything  artificial 
and  the  call  to  return  to  nature  there  is  some  truth 
which  only  needs  to  be  understood.  We  certainly 
make  no  mistake  in  designating  as  natural  conditions 
of  life  those  to  which  we  have  adequately  accommo- 
dated ourselves  during  thousands  of  years  of  evolu- 
tion. The  reader  is  referred  back  to  Chapter  V. 
(Part  2,  Phylogeny) ,  where  we  find  a  general  answer 
to  the  question  what  our  "  nature  "  really  is.  Culture, 
however,  as  we  saw,  has  resulted  in  an  extremely 
rapid,  great,  often  exaggerated,  and  enormously  one- 
sided utilisation  of  the  nervous  system,  especially  of 
the  brain,  while  this  brain  is  in  the  main  naturally 
and  organically  adapted  to  conditions  which  obtained 
thousands  of  years  ago  or  obtain  to-day  amongst 
savages.  That  is  why  the  civilised  man  is  so  well — 
so  prodigiously  well — when  he  can  spend  his  holidays 
running  and  climbing  and  jumping  in  open  nature 
and  can  behave  like  a  forest  ranger,  after  he  has  over- 


264  NERVOUS  AND  MENTAL  HYGIENE 

come  the  first  results  of  his  accustomed  laziness  in 
the  matter  of  movement  and  the  muscular  weakness 
in  which  it  has  resulted.  His  slumbering  ancestry 
then  stirs  within  him,  and  all  culture  seems  to  him 
miserable,  contemptible,  and  unnatural.  Yet  this 
too  is  an  illusion,  only  produced  by  contrast.  The 
man  who  grows  up  and  continues  in  this  primitive 
condition  is  no  happier  than  we,  but  only  exposed  to 
other  serious  wants  and  sufferings. 

The  true  art  of  a  sound  nerve  hygiene  thus  con- 
sists in  fitting  culture  properly  to  cc Nature''  i.  e-} 
in  eliminating  as  far  as  possible  from  culture  all  in- 
jurious and  unnecessary  excrescences  which  run  con- 
trary to  the  modified  conditions  of  human  life. 

We  have  already  insisted  in  this  chapter  on  the 
avoidance  of  all  narcotics  and  have  emphasised  the 
importance  of  the  law  of  exercise ;  both  of  these  corre- 
spond to  the  requirement  just  laid  down.  But  we 
must  emphasise  a  few  more  points  which  will  help  us 
to  attain  a  normal  life.  It  is  thoroughly  good  to 
harden  one's  self  and  accustom  one's  self,  like  primi- 
tive man,  to  stand  the  rigours  of  external  nature,  to 
fear  neither  heat  nor  cold  nor  moisture  nor  wind  and 
weather,  to  sleep  out  of  doors  occasionally  without 
catching  cold,  to  simplify  one's  clothing  instead  of 
making  it  more  complicated,  to  avoid  as  many  super- 
fluous articles  of  clothing  as  possible  and  to  honour 
the  greatest  simplicity  in  diet;  for,  as  we  have  said 
already,  we  do  ourselves  far  more  harm  by  overeat- 
ing, muscular  laziness,  and  mollycoddling  than   by 


GENERAL  265 

excesses  in  the  opposite  direction.  In  this  hardening 
we  must  carefully  observe  the  law  of  training  or  ex- 
ercise, and  proceed  gradually  and  carefully.  Before 
the  celebrated  polar  traveller  Xansen  crossed  Green- 
land on  foot  he  gradually  accustomed  himself  to  it  by 
sleeping  (in  his  fur  coat  to  be  sure)  in  the  open  air 
with  the  mercury  ten,  twenty,  and  thirty  degrees  be- 
low zero  [from  18°  to  -22°  Fahrenheit].  The  great- 
est mistake  that  we  are  in  the  habit  of  making  is  that 
for  fear  of  colds  and  sicknesses  we  practise  ourselves 
in  progressive  weakening  instead  of  in  healthy 
hardening,  and  in  this  wray  instead  of  avoiding  dis- 
eases we  become  the  most  downright  victims  of  them. 
We  must  let  our  bodies  take  care  of  bacteria  and  ac- 
commodate ourselves  to  them,  instead  of  living  in  the 
delusion  that  we  can  capture  or  avoid  them  all.  If 
one  trains  his  body  regularly  with  useful  bodily  ex- 
ercises he  can  stand  and  profit  by  all  that  is  best  in 
culture  without  drying  up  and  without  languishing 
for  a  home  in  the  forest  or  for  Nirvana  (the  Buddh- 
istic Nothing ). 

Moreover  we  must  banish  pleasure-seeking  (but 
not  pleasure  itself),  from  our  lives.  Every  pleasure 
cultivated  for  its  own  sake  leads  to  ennui  and  dis- 
gust and  injures  the  nervous  health.  Every  healthy 
enjoyment  must  be  earned  by  an  harmonious  mode 
of  life.  It  is  a  pleasure  to  sleep,  even  on  a  hard 
bench,  if  you  are  tired,  or  to  eat  crude  dishes  if  you 
are  hungry.  To  drink  pure  water  is  a  healthy  en- 
joyment if  you  have  a  natural  thirst,  and  it  does  not 


266  NERVOUS  AND  MENTAL  HYGIENE 

injure  one  like  the  satisfaction  of  the  artificial  thirst 
for  alcohol  that  results  from  poisoning.  Mental 
work  is  a  healthy  pleasure  if  the  need  for  muscular 
exercise  and  activity  beside  it  is  also  satisfied.  Mus- 
cular work  is  a  pleasure  when  alternated  with  activity 
of  thought  and  feeling,  but  not  when  carried  on  purely 
mechanically  and  automatically  without  any  active 
attention;  for  then  it  does  not  replace  either  abstract 
thought  or  emotional  excitement,  which  can  both  be 
present  to  lead  us  astray  in  spite  of  such  work.  Sex- 
ual intercourse  is  a  true,  pure,  and  lasting  pleasure 
only  when  it  is  bound  up  with  true  love.  In  the 
long  run  it  needs  its  natural  end,  the  production 
of  offspring,  if  it  is  to  lead  to  unclouded  life-happi- 
ness. To  be  sure,  human  beings  cannot  always  have 
everything,  and  in  this  last  respect  limitations  of 
which  we  shall  speak  in  Chapter  X.  are  necessary  for 
the  individual  and  social  welfare. 

Thus,  on  the  whole,  we  shall  succeed  best  in  adapt- 
ing culture  to  nature  if  we  declare  a  resolute  war 
against  all  useless  social  prejudices,  above  all  against 
luxury,  vanities,  frivolous  amusement,  and  especially 
against  inordinate  longing  for  enjoyment,  which 
ruins  normal  pleasures.  The  amount  of  time,  money, 
strength,  and  health  we  must  pay  for  luxury  in  eat- 
ing, drinking,  and  clothing;  the  amount  consumed 
in  gossip,  dreary  drawing-room  chatter,  and  con- 
ventional visits;  the  amount  swallowed  up  by  bad  or 
inferior  pleasures,  variety  shows,  gambling  hells, 
drinking  bouts,  houses  of  prostitution,  alcoholic  and 


GENERAL  267 

sexual  excesses  in  general — is  immeasurable;  and 
with  the  physical  and  moral  poisoning,  the  diseases 
and  weakenings  in  which  it  results,  this  constitutes 
by  far  the  greatest  enemy  of  a  normal  nerve  hygiene. 
A  young  man  well  known  to  me,  who  has  always 
been  abstinent,  made  long  journeys  through  Europe 
when  only  sixteen  or  eighteen  years  of  age,  accom- 
panied only  by  his  bicycle.  On  one  occasion  for 
example,  he  made  a  trip  of  one  thousand  three  hund- 
red kilometres  [eight  hundred  miles]  in  three  weeks, 
and  though  to  be  sure  he  visited  for  five  days  in  a  big 
city  with  friends  (which  cost  him  nothing),  for  the 
rest  he  spent  only  a  trifle  over  five  dollars  for  his 
whole  trip,  including  repairs  on  the  wheel,  and  enjoyed 
himself  royally.  He  spent  the  night  with  farmers  for 
about  five  or  eight  cents,  drank  milk  and  ate  eggs 
with  a  bit  of  bread.  Although  it  was  the  beginning 
of  April  so  that  snow  and  rain  offered  him  many  dif- 
ficulties, he  overcame  them  all  with  ease  in  conse- 
quence of  good  previous  training.  I  call  that  true 
and  genuine  enjoyment  of  life,  and  people  of  very 
slender  means  could  accomplish  it  if  they  would  spare 
the  money  from  alcohol  and  vanities.  Unfortunately 
these  people  soften  themselves  nowadays  in  the  sad- 
dest way  and  thus  imitate  the  degenerate  rich.  What 
we  have  just  said  is  quite  as  true  of  women  as  of 
men.  It  is  a  wholly  erroneous  prejudice  that  women 
are  injured  or  unsexed  by  physical  work.  It  is  well 
known  that  in  Dahomey  the  women  wage  war  with 
the  men  and  these  amazons  have  prepared  extremely 


268  NERVOUS  AND  MENTAL  HYGIENE 

unpleasant  situations  for  the  French  troops.  I  my- 
self had  an  opportunity  to  see  the  women  with  the 
captured  king  of  Dahomey,  Behanzin,  on  the  island 
of  Martinique  and  can  testify  that  I  have  rarely  seen 
such  pictures  of  perfect  health  and  bodily  feminine 
beauty  as  were  presented  by  these  negresses  of  Da- 
homey (apart,  of  course,  from  their  crinkled  hair  and 
negro  features ) . 

5.  Psychopaths  (the  nervously  and  mentally  ab- 
normal). All  that  we  have  just  said  holds  also, 
though  with  certain  qualifications,  for  so-called 
:'  nervous  "  people,  i.  e.,  for  psychopaths  and  the  neu- 
rotic, the  hysterical,  hypochondriacs,  etc.  It  is  the 
very  hypochondriacs  who  are  the  weak  prey  of  all  the 
cure  places  and  other  mercantile  enterprises,  through 
which  they  often  come  to  grief  financially  instead  of 
attaining  the  health  they  hoped  for.  It  is  scarcely 
credible  what  brilliant  results  can  be  attained  with 
functional  nervous  diseases  by  consistent  training  to 
useful  work.  But  here  great  individualising  on  the 
part  of  the  physician  is  necessary  and  we  cannot  set 
up  any  general  rules.  Only  the  nerve  specialist  who 
is  at  the  same  time  a  good  psychologist  and  pene- 
trates into  the  mental  and  emotional  life  of  the  patient 
can  find  the  right  course.  He  must  investigate  the 
whole  life  of  his  patient  and  fathom  the  deepest  sighs 
of  his  heart,  in  order  to  know  how  to  make  the  proper 
change  in  his  brain  life.  And  here  a  comprehension 
of  hypnotism,  still  unfortunately  despised  by  official 
medicine  and  especially  in  the  schools,  is  almost  in- 


GENERAL  269 

dispensable.  While  very  many  psychopathies  and 
weaknesses  of  intelligence,  feeling,  and  will  can  be 
improved  or  sometimes  even  healed  only  through 
slow  training  to  a  simple  bodily  activity,  such  as 
farm- work,  carpentry,  gardening,  and  the  like;  cer- 
tain diseases  whose  sufferings  are  occasioned  or  con- 
tinued more  through  emotional  wounds,  unsuccessful 
callings,  or  lack  of  ideals  demand  an  entire  alternation 
of  one's  whole  aim  in  life.  With  these  concentrated 
mental  work,  enthusiasm  for  a  philanthropic  cause,  a 
scientific  career,  or  a  happy  marriage,  according  to 
the  case,  works  a  direct  cure  or  at  least  gives  pleasure 
in  living  and  brings  about  a  considerable  improve- 
ment in  their  sufferings.  Other  patients  have  been 
affected  by  certain  definite  ideas  which  are  often 
grounded  in  social  prejudices.  These  are  found  es- 
pecially in  the  sexual  realm  where  many  a  person  re- 
proaches himself  with  frightful  sins,  when  what  he 
has  done  was  not  a  sin  at  all  or  was  due  to  foolish 
errors  from  which  the  patient  can  be  freed  by  kindly 
and  reasonable  instruction. 

As  a  rule  training  with  psychopaths  must  be  doubly 
careful.  Here  in  the  case  of  adults  one  must  often 
begin  with  a  few  simple  exercises,  perhaps  with  child- 
ren's dumb-bells  or  with  extremely  short  walks,  until 
a  result  worth  mentioning  is  gradually  attained,  often 
by  the  help  of  suggestion.  Many  relapses  and  dis- 
couragements are  not  excluded,  and  much  persistent 
effort  is  necessary,  but  even  with  such  insufficient 
people  one  can  accomplish  much  in  the  end  if  his  de- 


270  NERVOUS  AND  MENTAL  HYGIENE 

mands  are  not  too  high.  Ten  years  ago  (1893) ,  Mr. 
A.  Grohmann,  a  civil  engineer  then  in  Zurich,  in  ac- 
cord and  after  consultation  with  me,  set  himself  the 
task  of  aiding  nervous  patients  by  directing  them 
in  regular,  individually  adapted  work.  A  severe  case 
of  hysteria  which  I  had  cured  in  1891  through  agri- 
cultural work  (a  lady  who  now  belongs  to  the  most 
active  and  efficient  leaders  of  philanthropic  work) 
induced  me  to  support  Grohmann's  project,  and  he 
thereupon  established  an  employment  institution  in 
Zurich.  As  early  as  1894  I  communicated  my  views 
with  reference  to  it  to  the  Korrespondenzblatt  für 
Schweizer  Ärzte,1  Then  in  1896,  P.  J.  Moebius 
threw  further  light  on  the  subject 2  and  directed  the 
attention  of  the  German  physicians  to  it.3 

To  be  sure  the  question  here  is  more  one  of  the 
treatment  of  the  insane  than  of  hygiene  proper.  But 
in  the  field  of  psychopathy  there  are  no  fixed  bound- 
aries between  disease  and  health.  Much  of  Groh- 
mann's experience  is  well  worth  taking  to  heart  by 
every  sane  person  who  wishes  to  protect  himself  from 
mental  or  nervous  disturbances. 

1  Sept.  15,  p.  57. 

2  On  the  Employment  of  Nervous  Patients  and  the  Establishment  of 
Nerve  Cure  Homes, 

3  Unfortunately  the  practical  execution  of  the  scheme  has  taken 
place  as  yet  in  an  insufficient  way  with  insufficient  means  and  assist- 
ants. Still  Herr  Grohmann  has  published  a  graphic  and  humorous 
account  of  his  experiences.  I  shall  mention  only  his  last  work  about 
the  proposed  foundation  with  Moebius  of  a  suitable  health  colony,  The 
Colony  Friedau,  a  Popidar  Health  Home  Free  from  Alcohol,  Zürich, 
1902  ;  Deranged  .-—Sketches  from  the  Intercourse  with  the  Deranged  and 
their  Relatives,  for  the  Laity,  1902, 


GENERAL  271 

6.  General.  By  means  of  a  proper  systematic 
training  in  every  sphere  one  becomes  not  only  happy, 
but  free  and  rich;  rich  not  always  in  money,  but  in 
capacity  for  work,  and  free  from  the. slavery  of  su- 
perfluous and  injurious  needs;  happy  in  the  joy 
of  difficulties  overcome  as  well  as  in  the  feeling  of 
health  and  strength,  of  increased  efficiency,  independ- 
ence, and  adaptability.  But  with  reference  to  free- 
dom from  needs  I  wish  to  be  understood.  The 
winged  word  of  Lassalle  the  Socialist,  "  cursed  free- 
dom from  needs,"  is  not  without  its  justification. 
Only  we  must  distinguish  and  separate  good  needs 
from  bad.  Bad  are  the  material  needs  which  enslave 
people  and  make  them  dependent,  and  all  those  which 
proceed  from  pure  pleasure-seeking,  vanity,  child's 
play,  and  luxury;  good,  on  the  contrary,  are  those 
which  drive  to  useful  mental  and  muscular  work.  We 
should  therefore  be  as  simple  and  modest  as  possible 
in  our  clothing,  eating,  drinking,  and  dwellings, 
and  in  exchange  make  increased  demands  upon  our 
selves  in  the  cultivation  of  our  mind  and  feelings  and 
will  as  well  as  in  technical  dexterities. 

Finally  we  must  emphasise  again  what  we  have  said 
already  that  hygiene  as  such  strives  only  for  the  pre- 
vention of  disease  by  an  appropriate  mode  of  life 
and  cannot  replace  the  physician  in  case  of  sickness. 
Whoever  has  read  the  seventh  and  eighth  chapters 
will  realise  from  the  large  number  of  diseases  there 
depicted  that  for  a  proper  diagnosis,  prognosis,  and 
treatment  a  reliable  mental  and  nervous  specialist  is 


272  NERVOUS  AND  MENTAL  HYGIENE 

necessary.  The  difficulty  is  to  find  or  choose  him. 
One  must  beware  especially  of  the  pushing  fellows 
and  the  physicians  with  too  mercenary  a  turn,  to  say 
nothing  of  licensed  and  unlicensed  swindlers,  who  are 
unfortunately  legion.  It  is  surely  not  necessary  to 
say  to  intelligent  people  that  all  the  advertising 
heroes  who  trumpet  their  cures  in  the  newspapers  and 
high-sounding  prospectuses,  claim  to  have  discovered 
panaceas,  and  will  restore  will  and  energy  to  any  one 
who  sends  six  marks  are  swindlers  one  and  all,  who 
are  only  out  to  prey  upon  the  credulity  of  the  public. 
Moreover  one  should  set  aside  his  fear  of  the  alienist. 
The  director  of  a  state  asylum  with  his  fixed  salary, 
and  exposed  as  he  is  in  his  thorny  place  to  enmity  and 
calumny  through  the  gossip  and  lies  of  uncured  or 
only  half  cured  patients  is  the  very  person  to  offer 
good  security,  for  the  ground  on  which  he  lives  is 
not  adapted  to  the  growth  of  fraud.  His  knowledge 
of  the  abnormalities  of  the  human  mind  gives  him 
practical  wisdom  which  is  usually  lacking  with  other 
phvsicians.  Manv  so-called  nerve  doctors  who  are 
accustomed  only  to  sanatoria  and  have  confined  their 
studies  to  the  spinal  cord  and  peripheral  nerves  suffer 
from  the  great  mistake  that  they  do  not  know  the 
centre  of  their  own  field,  the  brain  and  mental  dis- 
turbances. It  would  be  very  desirable  to  make  a 
higher  position  for  psychiatry  in  the  medical  schools 
and  to  extend  the  horizon  of  the  alienist  through  a 
widening  of  his  field — extra  muros — to  all  nervous 
troubles,  instead  of  making  two  persons  out  of  the 


GENERAL  273 

alienist  and  the  nerve  specialist,  which  is  a  fundamen- 
tal blunder.  In  cases  of  doubt  and  in  serious  predica- 
ments, a  modest  and  honourable  family  physician  is 
the  best  counsellor  to  begin  with.  He  is  also  the  best 
person  to  recommend  the  proper  specialist. 
18 


CHAPTER  X 

nervous  hygiene  of  generation  or  inheritance 
(hygiene  of  the  inherited  disposition) 

AS  parts  of  our  bodies  the  ova  and  spermatozoa 
can  not  take  care  of  their  own  hygiene.  We 
say  jokingly  that  one  cannot  be  too  careful  in  the 
choice  of  a  parent;  but  we  cannot  choose.  And 
simply  because  no  such  choice  is  possible  it  is  our 
sacred  duty  to  care  for  the  health  of  our  offspring. 
It  is  very  convenient  to  say  that  we  must  not  play  the 
part  of  fate  but  must  leave  the  selection  of  the  human 
race  to  nature.  The  animals  do  that  to  be  sure  with 
a  certain  amount  of  success,  for  they  study  no  medi- 
cine, wear  no  glasses,  and  do  not  clothe  themselves  or 
take  care  of  the  sick  and  disabled,  so  that  with  them 
death  provides  for  the  selection.  But  when  man  takes 
care  of  the  sick  and  deformed,  kills  the  sound  in  wars, 
and  makes  natural  alliances  more  difficult  by  cultivat- 
ing prostitution  and  venereal  diseases,  by  constant 
military  service,  and  by  destroying  normal  sexual 
selection  in  marriages  for  the  sake  of  wealth  and 
position ;  when  he  cultivates  drink  and  other  bad  hab- 
its, and,  in  short,  constantly  plays  the  part  of  a  malign 
fate  and  provides  for  the  deterioration  of  his  race,  this 

274 


GENERATION  OR  INHERITANCE  275 

way  of  talking  is  the  purest  hypocrisy.  To  be  sure 
there  is  a  certain  justification  for  bringing  against 
our  requirements  the  non-success  of  the  Spartan  law- 
giver Lycurgus.  But,  as  might  be  expected  from 
his  times  and  ignorance  of  science,  he  carried  out  a 
selection  for  bodily  strength  only,  and  totally  neg- 
lected mental  vigour,  and  moreover  he  committed  the 
great  blunder  of  allowing  the  slavery  of  the  Helots  to 
continue.  Thus  he  helped  to  breed  a  people  who 
were  physically  strong,  to  be  sure,  but  stupid  and 
lazy.  He  had  forgotten  the  main  thing,  the  culti- 
vation of  work,  and  history  teaches  that  at  last  the 
slaves  by  their  work  got  ahead  of  their  masters,  so 
that  slavery  destroyed  the  latter  and  not  the  former. 
It  is  also  argued  against  us  that  artificially  bred 
varieties  of  animals  and  plants  are  unable  to  preserve 
themselves  in  nature.  But  here  it  is  forgotten  that 
these  races  are  not  selected  for  their  own  strength  and 
ability  to  fight  their  way  in  life,  but  only  for  the 
sake  of  certain  qualities  which  we  desire  for  our  own 
purposes,  and  that  in  making  such  a  selection  we 
directly  destroy  their  fitness  for  the  struggle  for 
existence.  Thus  these  arguments  are  in  our  favour 
and  not  against  us,  for  they  both  show  that  we  can 
select  if  we  will.  But  for  the  well-being  of  our  de- 
scendants themselves  we  must  select  (or  breed)  in 
them  power  of  work  and  health  and  capacity  for  life's 
struggle,  by  avoiding  the  reproduction  of  those  who 
are  mentally  and  physically  deformed  and  by  further- 
ing that  of  men  and  women  who   are  strong  and 


276  NERVOUS  AND  MENTAL  HYGIENE 

sound  physically,  diligent,  energetic,  and  strong- 
willed,  social  and  altruistic,  intelligent,  thoughtful, 
and  otherwise  good  and  sturdy. 

To  avoid  misunderstandings  we  must  explain  here 
to  those  who  have  theories  about  inheritance  that  we 
do  not  need  to  worry  about  their  hypotheses.  We 
are  not  anxious  to  produce  any  new  species,  any 
'  Übermensch  "  or  "  hemo  supersapiens."  We  con- 
tent ourselves  with  the  well-known  factors  of  natural 
and  artificial  selection  within  a  species,  and  we  do 
not  by  any  means  neglect  the  other  factors  which  lie 
outside  of  selection,  such  as  nutrition  and  air,1  On 
the  contrary,  all  scientists  with  theories  of  inheritance 
whether  they  lay  greater  or  less  weight  on  selection, 
chemical  powers,  an  inner  tendency  to  mutation, 
or  other  still  more  unknown  factors  are  united  in 
this  that  the  species  of  animals  now  extant  are  re- 
lated to  each  other  by  descent,  that  we  men  belong 
with  them,  and  that  as  a  general  thing  individual 
variations  are  conditioned  by  inheritance  and  sexual 
crossing,  and  therefore  by  selection.  That  is  enough 
to  make  it  an  imperative  demand  of  hygiene  that 
we  select  the  healthy  and  better,  more  available  quali- 
ties within  our  own  species  by  all  appropriate  means. 

For  this,  to  be  sure,  we  need  a  sound  insight;  we 
must  set  aside  many  prejudices,  and  abstain  abso- 
lutely from  all  the  poisons  that  tend  to  produce  de- 
generation. Of  course,  it  is  impossible  to  specify 
exactly  what  our  descendants  are  to  be  and  we  must 

1  See  Chapters  IX.,  XI.,  and  XII. 


GENERATION  OR  INHERITANCE  277 

deal  with  the  matter  only  as  one  of  averages  and  prob- 
abilities. A  great  danger  to  be  apprehended  from 
the  misunderstanding  of  our  present  scientific  know- 
ledge of  inheritance  is  that  intelligent  but  very  timid 
and  conscientious  natures  will  overestimate  the  dan- 
ger of  transmitting  some  mental  disturbance  or  other 
hereditary  infirmity  of  their  own,  their  parents',  or 
their  ancestors',  and  abstain  on  that  account  from 
having  children,  while  crude  indifferent  blockheads 
overlook  all  that  and  regard  their  own  qualities  as  ex- 
cellent. Therefore  we  cannot  say  too  emphatically 
that  we  regard  the  matter  as  follows: 

Mankind  must  be  divided  into  about  two  halves: 
a  superior,  more  socially  useful,  sounder,  or  happier, 
and  an  inferior,  less  socially  useful,  less  sound  and 
happy.  If  we  draw  a  median  average  line  between 
the  two,  we  can  lay  down  the  following  proposition. 
He  who  undoubtedly  belongs,  together  with  his  an- 
cestors, to  the  upper  half  should  multiply  vigorously; 
he  who  belongs  no  less  undoubtedly  to  the  inferior 
half  should  hold  back,  especially  if  he  is  incompe- 
tent, unhappy,  and  socially  injurious  through  mental 
disturbances,  crimes,  and  nervous  diseases ;  and  in  this 
latter  case,  he  should  regard  it  as  his  duty  to  avoid 
the  production  of  children  under  every  condition,  more 
especially  when  his  failings  are  pronounced  in  him 
individually  and  are  plainly  matters  of  family  in- 
heritance with  his  ancestors ;  and  finally  he  who  stands 
at  about  the  middle  should  take  care  to  be  moderate 
in  the  multiplication  of  his  kind. 


278  NERVOUS  AND  MENTAL  HYGIENE 

I  hope  it  is  clear  that  I  am  far  from  saying  that 
only  persons  of  great  talent  and  genius  should  in- 
crease plentifully.  Indeed  there  are  such  things  as 
one-sided,  pathological  geniuses  who  are  derived 
from  families  that  are  mentally  degenerate  through 
and  through,  whose  brothers  and  sisters  are  more  or 
less  dull-witted  and  mentally  diseased  and  whose  off- 
spring will  be  for  the  most  part  utterly  useless.  Mod- 
est but  healthy,  good,  reliable,  industrious  peasants 
and  labourers  with  a  good  human  understanding  are 
the  very  best  material  for  a  good  posterity.  On  the 
other  hand,  we  must  not  forget  that  persons  who  are 
now  mentally  and  socially  prominent  are  usually  the 
product  of  a  former  happy  and  favourable  selection 
and  that  if  they  have  come  to  wealth  and  importance 
this  is  usually  by  no  means  due  to  external  good  for- 
tune and  good  education,  but  much  more  to  a  double 
portion  of  the  good  qualities  of  the  ovum  and  sper- 
matozoon from  which  they  sprang.  If  some  of  them 
are  a  bit  nervous  and  many  of  their  faults  are  more 
sharply  exposed  and  criticised  than  is  the  case  with 
good  honest  peasants,  we  must  not  forget  that  their 
public  position  lays  them  more  open  to  attack,  and 
that  they  are  often  nearly  worn  out  with  a  tremendous 
amount  of  work. 

When  there  is  a  proposed  marriage  of  capable  and 
conscientious  people  I  have  often  been  asked  whether 
it  should  take  place  or  not,  because  perhaps  the  father 
of  one  of  them  is  mentally  affected  or  there  has  been 
this  or  that  case  of  weakness  or  sickness  in  the  family. 


GENERATION  OR  INHERITANCE  279 

In  accordance  with  what  I  have  just  said  I  have  usu- 
ally been  in  a  position  to  recommend  not  only  the 
marriage  but  also  unrestrained  production  of  child- 
ren. But,  on  the  other  hand,  with  stupid,  silly  epilep- 
tics, imbeciles,  habitual  criminals,  or  chronic  sufferers 
with  tuberculosis  or  syphilis  I  have  very  often  had  to 
warn  them  most  energetically,  even  though  I  had  not 
been  consulted,  that  to  have  children  would  be  per- 
fectly criminal,  to  appeal  to  their  consciences,  and  to 
picture  to  them  the  miserable,  unhappy,  sickly  brood 
that  they  would  doubtless  engender.  The  same  is 
true  of  course  in  the  highest  measure  of  alcoholics,  of 
the  begetting  of  children  in  a  condition  of  intoxica- 
tion, and  of  opium  fiends;  and  it  is  self-evident  that 
serious  hereditary  diseases  of  the  spinal  cord,  heredi- 
tary hypochondrias  of  the  more  serious  sort,  and  other 
such  diseases,  give  promise  of  no  good  offspring. 
If  mental  and  physical  cripples  who  ought  not  to 
multiply  their  kind  are  in  love  and  absolutely  deter- 
mined to  marry  we  cannot  hinder  them;  but  let  them 
see  to  it  no  children  are  engendered.1 

We  must  be  properly  understood:  The  production 
of  legitimate  children  should  in  no  wise  be  diminished 
from  selfishness  and  the  desire  for  money  or  pleasure. 
It  should  only  be  regulated  and  improved  in  quality 
because  this  is  a  holy  duty  that  we  owe  to  posterity. 
I  am  well  awrare  that  selfish  husbands  and  affected, 
light-headed,  coquettish  women  avoid  it  for  the  sake 

1  See  my  book  Die  Sexuelle  Frage,  Ernst  Reinhardt,   pub.  Munich, 
1905. 


28o  NERVOUS  AND  MENTAL  HYGIENE 

of  convenience,  for  the  preservation  of  their  beauty, 
or  from  laziness  and  deficient  love  of  children.  Thus 
these  ladies  and  gentlemen  do  not  increase  so  much, 
and  I  confess  it  is  no  great  pity.  Good,  happy, 
worthy  people  who  enjoy  their  children,  on  the  other 
hand,  need  only  to  read  the  next  chapter  to  be  en- 
couraged in  the  production  of  vigorous  offspring. 
If  any  one  gives  his  children  a  good  hereditary  dis- 
position as  a  birthday  present  it  is  worth  far  more  than 
luxury  and  riches,  which  only  make  for  degenera- 
tion. Vigorous,  good,  healthy  natures  fight  their 
way  through  the  world,  no  matter  how  poor  their 
circumstances. 

Finally  I  refer  to  Chapter  VIII.  for  the  hereditary 
influence  of  poisons  and  especially  of  alcohol  in  blas- 
tophthoria  or  the  ruin  of  the  germ.  This  point  is  the 
most  important  of  all  in  the  hygiene  of  reproduction. 
Born  or  habitual  criminals,  plotters,  querulants  (who 
are  always  getting  up  law-suits),  and  other  malevo- 
lent and  deeply  psychopathic  nuisances  are  particu- 
larly bad  and  ought  to  have  no  children;  the  same  is 
true  of  all  anti-social  people,  those  bent  on  exploiting 
others,  and  the  like,  for  these  scatter  the  most  misery 
around  them.  It  is  fatal  that  good  and  capable  peo- 
ple of  our  present  civilised  society  should  be  misused 
and  tied  up  in  such  a  way  that  no  time  or  opportunity 
is  left  to  them  for  marriage  and  the  production  of 
children,  while  these  are  the  very  ones  (I  refer,  for 
example,  to  capable  servants)  who  should  multiply 
the  most.     The  great  question  of  our  monogamy  I 


GENERATION  OR  INHERITANCE  281 

shall  not  discuss  here.  It  is  more  a  name  than  a 
reality ;  for  certainly  the  polygamy  of  the  Mohamme- 
dans is  not  so  bad  as  our  prostitution.  In  any  case, 
our  monogamy,  which  should  rest  far  more  on  true 
love  and  faithfulness  than  on  external  legal  rules  and 
hypocrisy,  should  receive  the  necessary  corrections  by 
a  facilitation  and  better  regulation  of  divorce.  As 
things  stand  in  our  civilisation  with  its  recognition  of 
prostitution,  the  hypocrisy  which  covers  illegitimate 
children  and  their  mothers  with  infamy,  brands  them, 
and  puts  them  to  disadvantage,  is  disgraceful. 

Let  us  deliberately  set  aside  a  set  of  questions  of 
which  a  great  deal  is  made,  but  which  we  regard  as 
extremely  unimportant  or  about  which  we  really 
know  nothing,  e.  g.,  the  supposed  means  of  produc- 
ing boys  or  girls  at  pleasure,  the  supposed  stronger 
influence  of  the  paternal  or  maternal  germ  on  the 
offspring  (we  need  only  notice  the  tremendous  varia- 
bility of  the  ways  in  which  children  resemble  their 
different  parents  or  other  ancestors  in  order  to  be  per- 
suaded of  the  hopelessness  of  such  speculation),  and 
the  emotional  condition  of  the  parent  at  the  time  of 
generation.  Any  one  who  understands  the  scientifi- 
cally demonstrated  conditions  of  reproduction  and 
has  freed  himself  from  prejudice  and  authoritative 
beliefs  will  be  able  to  distinguish  for  himself  between 
the  senseless  and  improbable  and  the  probable  and 
logical,  and  demand  proof  for  what  has  not  been 
proved.  For  the  rest,  it  is  certainly  a  serious  matter 
to  discharge  reproductive  functions  when  one  is  sick, 


282  NERVOUS  AND  MENTAL  HYGIENE 

exhausted,  or  very  badly  nourished,  for  doubtless  the 
reproductive  glands  also  suffer  from  such  conditions, 
though  positive  statistics  on  the  matter  are  hard  to  get- 
On  the  other  hand,  it  certainly  makes  no  difference 
with  the  children  whether  there  is  more  emotion  or 
less  or  none  at  all  at  the  time  of  the  reproductive  act 
and  what  either  or  both  of  the  parents  feel.  At 
least  any  important  proof  for  an  influence  of  this 
sort  is  lacking  and  all  the  known  facts  are 
against  it. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  age  of  the  parent  appears, 
for  obvious  reasons,  not  to  be  indifferent.  The  child- 
ren of  very  old  parents  are  generally  weakly  and  also 
develop  insufficiently  mentally.  On  the  other  hand, 
children  of  unripe  parents  are  likely  to  be  very  small 
and  also  somewhat  defective.  But  doubtless  our 
modern  children  suffer  more  from  the  parents  being 
too  old  than  too  young.  Goethe's  mother  was  about 
seventeen  when  he  was  conceived  and  eighteen  when 
he  was  born.  The  best  age  is  probably  from  eight- 
een to  thirty  with  women  and  from  twenty-five  to 
forty-five  with  men ;  for  the  development  of  the  latter 
is  decidedly  later  and  slower.  And  yet  a  prolonga- 
tion to  forty  with  the  woman  or  fifty  with  the  man  or 
even  a  bit  longer  does  not  seem  to  do  any  harm.  It 
has  been  stated  that  children  rather  tend  to  resemble 
the  elder  of  their  parents ;  but  this  also  is  by  no  means 
proved.  If  we  assume  that  with  strong,  vigorous 
couples  the  mother  generally  needs  a  year's  rest  after 
the  birth  of  a  child  before  the  conception  of  a  new  one 


GENERATION  OR  INHERITANCE  283 

it  follows  that  a  woman  married  at  eighteen  might 
have  a  maximum  of  from  ten  to  twelve  children  if  all 
goes  well  and  if  twins  do  not  happen  to  increase  the 
number  without  prolonging  the  time.  These  rela- 
tions are  also  adapted  to  nervous  hygiene.  Of 
course,  the  other  hygienic  conditions  of  the  body  must 
also  be  considered.  It  is  evident,  too,  that  the  maxi- 
mum holds  only  for  the  most  favourable  conditions 
of  health;  the  grounds  for  limitation  have  been  al- 
ready discussed.  From  what  we  have  said  and  from 
the  experience  of  life  it  also  follows  that  it  is  per- 
fectly normal  and  appropriate  if  the  man  is  from  five 
to  ten  years  older  than  his  wife,  while  a  reversal  of  the 
relations  is  abnormal.  The  fear  of  girls  marrying 
too  young  is  not  justified,  and  rests  partly  on  the  fact 
that  from  false  modesty  they  are  kept  in  ignorance 
of  sexual  relations  so  that  they  become  easy  victims 
of  deception.  But  most  girls  are  sexually  ripe  at 
seventeen  and  often  earlier. 


CHAPTER  XI 

nervous  hygiene  of  development  or  of  childhood 

(pedagogics) 

1.  General.  When  the  inherited  nervous  tend- 
encies of  an  individual  are  once  finally  deter- 
mined by  the  union  of  the  parental  cells  there  then 
comes  the  embryological  period  during  the  pregnancy 
of  the  mother.  The  hygiene  of  pregnancy  is  really 
a  question  of  good,  healthy  nourishment.  Here  also 
as  well  as  at  the  time  of  the  child's  nutrition  through 
its  mother's  milk,  all  poisonings,  especially  alcoholic 
poisoning,  are  extremely  injurious.  Von  Bunge  has 
even  shown,  as  we  have  seen,  that  alcoholism  with  the 
ancestors  seriously  injures  a  woman's  power  of  nurs- 
ing. It  is  a  frightful  and  ruinous  prejudice  to  give 
pregnant  women  and  nurses  alcohol  for  its  supposed 
strengthening  power,  and  injures  embryo  and  child 
tremendously.  Diseases,  emotional  excitements,  nu- 
tritional disturbances,  and  everything  else  that  injures 
the  bodily  health  and  especially  the  nervous  life  of  the 
mother  naturally  have  more  or  less  of  an  indirect 
effect  upon  the  life  of  the  embryo.  Yet  since  the 
nervous  system  of  the  latter  stands  in  no  direct  con- 
nection with  that  of  the  mother  it  is  affected  only 

indirectly  through  the  constitution  of  the  blood  that 

284 


OF  DEVELOPMENT  OR  CHILDHOOD  285 

nourishes  it.  See  the  history  of  the  germ  in 
Chapter  V. 

Directly  after  birth,  when  the  nervous  system, 
which  up  to  this  time  had  grown  and  evolved  in  a 
purely  vegetative  way  in  the  embryo,  begins  to  func- 
tion independently,  there  begins  also  the  real  nerve 
hygiene  of  development  or  of  the  child.  In  general 
everything  that  has  been  said  about  the  avoiding  of 
injuries  holds  here,  as  well  as  what  was  said  under  the 
general  head  in  Chapter  IX.  The  tender  brain  of 
the  child  demands  special  protection  and  very  specially 
demands  the  avoidance  of  all  poisonings  (most  par- 
ticularly from  alcohol)  and  all  other  injuries  which 
impede  its  development.  On  the  other  side,  this 
tender  organ  possesses  an  excellent  plasticity  and 
a  prodigious  impulse  towards  activity  and  develop- 
ment. How  shall  this  impulse  be  satisfied?  This  is 
the  problem  of  pedagogics,  and  can  be  divided  for 
practical  purposes  into  two  parts,  the  pedagogics  of 
the  home  and  education  in  school. 

To  understand  pedagogics  properly  the  adult 
should  go  to  school  with  the  child;  unfortunately  he 
has  generally  forgotten  his  own  childhood  completely 
and  no  longer  understands  it;  he  must  therefore 
observe  the  child  and  ground  himself  in  its  nature. 
Early  childhood  is  in  some  respects  a  prolongation 
of  the  vegetative  embryonic  period  and  what  it  needs 
most  is  good  nourishment  and  a  strengthening  of  the 
body,  especially  of  the  muscles;  but  on  the  other 
hand  all  the  functions  of  feeling,  will,  and  intellect 


286  NERVOUS  AND  MENTAL  HYGIENE 

develop  rapidly  at  this  time  and  should  not  be  neg- 
lected or  misunderstood.  Bad  habits  of  all  sorts,  lies 
and  the  like,  can  be  cultivated  by  neglect  of  the  child 
as  well  as  by  bad  example,  cruel  treatment,  or  overin- 
dulgence and  doting  affection.  Strict  consistency, 
exact  observation,  practice  in  all  that  is  good,  and 
protection  or,  if  need  be,  weaning  away  from  all  that 
is  bad, — all  in  connection  with  love  and  suggestions 
of  happiness  and  interest;  these  are  the  foundations 
of  a  proper  training.  Unfortunately  parents  with 
bad  hereditary  tendencies  are  usually  also  bad  educa- 
tors and  set  a  bad  example;  while  the  reverse  is  true 
of  good  parents.  Consequently  we  often  attribute  to 
education  what  really  rests,  at  least  to  a  large  extent, 
upon  the  good  or  bad  tendencies  inherited  from  the 
parent.  The  pure  effect  of  education  can  be  found 
far  more  in  institutions  for  neglected  and  abandoned 
children,  where  the  educators  are  not  also  the  parents, 
and  where  the  results  of  education  cannot  therefore 
be  misunderstood  or  underestimated.  In  such  in- 
stitutions we  can  also  observe  and  follow  out  the 
effects  of  good  and  bad  hereditary  tendencies. 

So  far  as  the  intellect  or  knowledge  is  concerned, 
the  fundamental  rule  is  to  follow  the  method  of  "  in- 
tuition "  or  object  lessons.  We  must  avoid  trying 
to  give  children  finished  abstract  conceptions  which 
are  only  comprehensible  by  adults.  The  children  are 
not  able  to  grasp  them  and  only  learn  the  words  by 
heart  and  repeat  them  like  a  parrot.  The  child  must 
first  absorb  a  great  deal  of  what  is  concrete.     By  the 


OF  DEVELOPMENT  OR  CHILDHOOD  2S7 

comparison  of  concrete  sense-impressions  it  must 
learn  to  reflect  and  understand.  Then  the  abstract 
conceptions  get  formed  gradually  of  their  own  ac- 
cord, and  with  little  or  no  learning  by  heart  the  brain 
becomes  filled  with  serviceable  and  logically-con- 
nected memory  images,  which  then  form  the  founda- 
tion for  sound  subsequent  views  of  life  and  the  world. 
It  is  a  fundamental  error  that  learning  by  heart  some- 
thing that  you  do  not  understand  really  strengthens 
a  useful  memory. 

In  the  realm  of  feeling,  the  child  should  be  given 
a  horror  of  all  that  is  bad  and  false  and  selfish.  By 
making  him  conscious  of  his  dependence  upon  others 
we  must  develop  in  him  feelings  of  social  obligation, 
conscientiousness,  and  love  of  the  truth.  Not  selfish 
insistence  upon  what  he  supposes  to  be  his  own  rights, 
but  regard  for  the  rights  of  others,  should  help  to 
cultivate  his  sense  of  fairness.  The  love  for  the  beau- 
tiful should  also  be  cultivated  in  him.  Fear  must  be 
combated  by  training  to  courage  and  independence, 
as  well  as  by  instruction  in  the  nature  of  the  things  he 
is  afraid  of ;  erotic  curiosity  should  be  kept  away  from 
the  child  by  a  sufficiently  early  explanation  of  sexual 
relations;  coarse  passions  must  be  combated  by  work 
and  the  cultivation  of  the  social  ideal,  by  regard  for 
human  personality,  especially  for  the  weaker  sex,  and 
by  personal  abstinence  from  intoxicants.  Unfor- 
tunately the  born  feeling-idiot  learns  altogether  too 
easily  to  simulate  feelings  with  words  and  to  deceive 
those  about  him  in  that  way.     This  is  an  imminent 


2$>S  NERVOUS  AND  MENTAL  HYGIENE 

peril  which  can  be  avoided  only  by  much  circumspec- 
tion and  insight,  and  here  with  the  worst  natures  all 
education  is  a  failure.  In  the  sphere  of  will,  which  is 
perhaps  the  most  difficult  to  influence  through  educa- 
tion, one  should  seek  to  replace  moods  and  caprice  by 
practice  in  the  consistent  carrying  out  of  resolutions. 
In  this  respect  the  English  are  the  best  teachers:  To 
learn  to  help  one's  self  in  life  through  fighting  and 
work  is  the  proper  maxim  for  educating  the  will. 

2.  Nerve  Hygiene  of  the  School;  the  School  of 
the  Future.  In  the  matter  of  eyes,  ventilation, 
rooms,  and  desks,  school  hygiene  has  already  made 
great  strides.  But  when  it  comes  to  education  of  the 
feelings  and  the  will,  and  to  methods  of  instruction, 
up  to  the  present  the  need  for  cramming  the  growing 
encyclopaedia  of  human  knowedge  into  the  brain  of 
the  child,  which  unfortunately  has  by  no  means  kept 
pace  with  it  in  growth  *  has  blocked  the  execution  of 
all  the  proposals  and  programs  for  reform  on  almost 
every  side,  however  beautiful  they  look  on  paper. 
Only  in  the  most  recent  times  have  the  earlier  im- 
pulses of  a  Rousseau  or  a  Pestalozzi  been  realised  in 
what  are  called  the  country  training  homes  (Lander- 
ziehungsheime) and  at  the  same  time  adapted  to 
modern  culture.  The  following  sketch  of  what  seems 
to  me  the  most  successful  of  the  reform  schools  I  take 
from  an  article  which  I  myself  contributed  to  the 
Neues  Wiener  Tagblatt. 

The  most  modern  school  reform  has  its  roots  in  the 

1  See  Chapter  V. 


OF  DEVELOPMENT  OR  CHILDHOOD  2S9 

ideas  of  Rousseau  and  Pestalozzi ;  which  could  not  be 
carried  out  successfully  at  an  earlier  time  because 
the  world  was  not  yet  ready  for  them  and  because 
Pestalozzi  had  no  sense  of  practical  order. 

The  latest  school  of  the  sort  is  the  Swiss  country 
education  home,  Schloss  Glarisegg,  near  Steckborn 
on  Lake  Constance — an  excellent  situation  in  the 
midst  of  woods  and  fields.1  It  was  opened  with  ten- 
and  thirteen-year  old  pupils  and  will  gradually  ex- 
tend the  program  to  that  of  a  gymnasium  [roughly 
equivalent  to  an  American  high  school,  since  it  fits 
for  the  university,  though  the  work  really  includes 
about  the  first  two  years  of  an  American  college],  in 
order  to  give  the  pupils  an  introduction  to  the  higher 
studies  if  they  wish  it,  but  its  great  object  is  to  make 
men  out  of  them  in  the  best  sense  of  the  word,  so  far 
as  their  character  and  capacities  allow  it. 

1  The  program  of  the  school  has  appeared  under  the  title  Landerzie- 
hungsheime Schulprogramm  des  Schweizerischen  Landerziehungsheims 
Schloss  Glarisegg,  published  by  Albert  Müller,  Zürich,  1902,  and  ex- 
plains in  about  eighty  pages,  with  illustrations,  the  principles  of  the 
school  and  how  they  are  carried  out.  The  program  is  divided  as 
follows  : 

A.  History  of  the  country  education  homes;  (1)  Rousseau's  peda- 
gogical ideas  and  the  country  education  homes  ;  (2)  the  new  school 
in  Abbotsholme;  (3)  the  German  country  education  homes  at  Ilsenburg 
and  in  Haubinda. 

B.  Life  and  learning  in  the  Swiss  country  education  home  :  (1)  Castle 
Glarisegg;  (2)  physical  education;  (3)  scientific  instruction;  (4)  art,  re- 
ligion, and  morals. 

See  also:  Landerziehungsheime, Darstellung  und  Kritik  einer  modernen 
Reformschule,  Inauguraldissertation  von  Wilhelm  Frei  (Philosophische 
Facultät  Zürich),  1902.   Klinkhardt,  Leipzig. 

19 


29o  NERVOUS  AND  MENTAL  HYGIENE 

In  the  German  country  training  home  at  Hauhinda 
I  had  an  opportunity  to  observe  the  total  transforma- 
tion of  a  pupil  whose  brain  had  been  completely  stupe- 
fied, benumbed,  and  discouraged  by  the  cramming 
system  of  our  gymnasia.  In  spite  of  all  his  work  and 
effort,  he  saw  himself  an  :'  incapable  pupil ':  with 
the  sure  prospect  of  failing  at  the  examination.  In 
a  year  he  was  one  of  the  best  pupils  in  Haubinda ;  for 
he  was  not  stupid,  but  only  slow  and  deliberate  and 
could  not  learn  easily  by  heart.  I  learned  then  of  a 
whole  set  of  such  cases,  visited  the  school  at  Haubinda 
myself,  and  think  therefore  that  I  have  a  right  to  say 
something  about  it  from  my  own  standpoint. 

The  aim  of  every  school  should  be  to  develop  the 
understanding,  the  feelings,  and  the  will  harmoni- 
ously and  wisely,  so  far  as  each  individual  brain  is 
capable  of  such  development.  It  should  make  use- 
ful, good,  and  active  men  and  women  who  carry  their 
struggle  for  existence  through  easily  because  they 
demand  very  little  from  others  but  produce  much 
themselves  for  human  society.  Nobody  can  live  now- 
adays without  receiving  material  or  spiritual  gifts 
from  his  fellows ;  and  a  good  citizen  is  the  one  who 
gives  more  to  his  fatherland  and  mankind  than  he 
gets  from  them,  while  a  bad  citizen  does  the  opposite. 
The  school  must  therefore  do  as  much  to  cultivate 
feeling  and  will  as  to  equip  the  child  with  knowledge 
and  faculty. 

But  now  for  a  long  time  the  sum  of  human  know- 
ledge has  been  increasing  frightfully ;  yet,  as  we  have 


OF  DEVELOPMENT  OR  CHILDHOOD  291 

seen,  our  brains  are  not  perceptibly  larger  or  better 
than  they  were  two  thousand  years  ago.  It  is  there- 
fore foolish  to  try  and  cram  into  them  an  ever-increas- 
ing number  of  facts  and  formulas  of  every  sort.  That 
cannot  possibly  be  done  without  injuring  the  judg- 
ment, the  emotional  tone,  the  will,  the  creative  fancy, 
and  all  the  characteristics  on  which  harmony  of  soul 
depends.  The  brain  force  must  be  reserved  for  judg- 
ment, reflection,  understanding,  and  correlation  as 
well  as  for  feeling.  The  dry  facts  and  figures  of  the 
encyclopaedias  do  not  belong  in  our  brain  as  a  kind 
of  mnemonic  ballast,  but  in  pigeonholes  and  libraries 
where  we  can  consult  them  when  we  need  them. 
That  is  why  tables  and  lexicons  exist — not  to  be 
learned  by  heart.  We  must  at  last  leave  off  tortur- 
ing and  maltreating  children's  brains  in  this  way. 
Such  a  thing  might  have  been  in  place  two  thousand 
years  ago  when  there  was  no  printing  and  the  sum 
of  human  knowledge  was  still  very  small,  but  now 
it  is  generally  soulless,  detached  morsels  which  are 
stuffed  into  the  school  books  and  have  to  be  crammed 
by  the  pupil,  and  they  give  him  indigestion  instead  of 
awakening  love  and  understanding  for  the  subjects 
taught.  This  is  true  also  of  the  colleges  and  profes- 
sional schools,  which  are  no  less  needing  of  reform. 

If  you  wish  to  develop  a  child's  brain  usefully  you 
must  place  yourself  at  his  service  as  friend  and  com- 
rade, and  study  him  exactly.  Discipline  should  not 
be  attained  through  punishment,  but  through  love 
and  reason.     The  child  also  possesses  both  of  these  in 


2g2  NERVOUS  AND  MENTAL  HYGIENE 

his  own  way,  and  they  must  be  respected  instead  of 
being  loftily  disregarded.  It  is  far  less  the  duty  of 
the  child  to  accommodate  himself  to  the  school  than 
the  duty  of  the  school  and  the  teacher  to  accommodate 
themselves  to  childhood.  The  teacher  should  there- 
fore be  a  good  pedagogue,  a  good  psychologist,  and 
a  good  man,  but  not  a  pedantic,  self -conceited  poly- 
histor.  Pestalozzis  administrative  incapacity  in  no 
way  injures  the  deep  truth  of  his  perceptions. 
Every  teacher  should  appropriate  his  spirit,  absorb 
the  psychology  and  physiology  of  the  child,  live  the 
life  of  his  pupils,  think  with  them,  and  make  a  living 
whole  of  his  knowledge.  Only  in  such  an  atmos- 
phere, with  the  feeling  of  physical  and  mental 
freedom,  can  the  child  harmoniously  develop  his  judg- 
ment, his  understanding,  his  ethical  and  aesthetic  feel- 
ings, his  personal  and  social  will. 

To  attain  this  the  ministries  of  education  and  the 
teaching  body  must  first  of  all  be  made  to  face  in 
another  direction.  The  material  situation,  the  intel- 
lectual and  ethical  niveau,  and  the  social  position  of 
the  teachers  must  be  raised.  The  human  worth  of 
our  children  is  identical  with  the  worth  of  the  nation 
in  the  next  generation  and  certainly  deserves  such 
efforts  and  pecuniary  sacrifices.  I  am  bold  enough 
to  assert  that  this  question  is  far  more  important  for 
the  future  of  the  peoples  than  the  fiscal  question,  the 
army  budget,  and  the  like,  which  keep  our  govern- 
ments so  very  busy. 

Is  it  not  then  a  daily  occurrence  to  see  many  of 


OF  DEVELOPMENT  OR  CHILDHOOD  293 

those  heroes  of  the  gymnasia  with  their  powers  of 
memory  and  receptivity,  those  wonders  of  talent,  the 
favourites  of  their  teachers  whose  soulless  echoes  they 
are,  dry  up  and  fail  in  later  life  ?  I  myself  have  seen 
an  idiot  whom  I  afterwards  had  to  have  put  under 
a  guardian  but  who,  thanks  to  his  memory  and  his 
quick,  parrot-like  receptivity  had  passed  a  brilliant 
leaving  examination  in  a  German  gymnasium!  On 
the  other  hand,  we  often  see  capable,  thoughtful  peo- 
ple, or  even  geniuses,  so  pestered  and  impeded  by  the 
methods  of  our  gymnasia  that  they  fail  at  the  exami- 
nations and  are  lost  to  the  elite  of  the  nation  unless 
money  or  great  energy  enables  them  to  advance 
themselves  in  other  ways. 

The  Greeks  no  doubt  were  a  gifted  people,  and  our 
culture  rests  on  a  Latin  foundation;  but  the  way  in 
which  our  children  are  tortured  with  the  pedantic  de- 
tails of  a  dry  Greek  grammar  retailed  from  the  books 
scarcely  breathes  into  them  the  Greek  spirit.  If 
Aristophanes  could  only  see  it  he  would  find  a  glori- 
ous theme  for  his  sarcasm ! 

In  the  year  1898,  the  newspaper  Die  Waage  in- 
stituted an  inquiry  into  the  results  attained  in  the 
gymnasia  and  Realschulen  [both  secondary  schools] 
as  well  as  into  the  possibility  of  reform.  The  result 
seems  to  have  been  more  oratorical  than  real.  In  the 
course  of  the  inquiry  one  speaker  suggested  that 
the  pupils  without  talent  should  be  taken  out  of  the 
schools;  to  which  a  lady  replied  that  she  found  the 
question  very   difficult  and  worth  going  into  more 


294  NERVOUS  AND  MENTAL  HYGIENE 

deeply  and  asked  the  speaker  exactly  what  he  meant. 
This  drew  the  remark  from  a  professor  that  her  un- 
easiness was  not  justified;  it  was  easy  enough  to  de- 
cide whether  a  child  had  talent  or  not!  Does  the 
professor  really  believe  that  it  is  so  easy  for  a  school- 
master to  play  prophet  and  calculate  a  child's  mind 
for  the  future?  Who  then  will  look  after  the  selec- 
tion of  the  capable  brains  in  our  present  school  sys- 
tem where  success  still  depends  pre-eminently  upon 
memory  and  upon  the  faculty  of  quick  apprehension, 
that  is  to  say,  upon  very  subordinate  mental  faculties, 
while  very  little  account  is  taken  of  the  higher  talent 
of  keen  judgment,  and  practically  none  whatever 
of  the  combining  creative  power  of  genius?  It  is 
greatly  to  be  feared  that  the  idiot  we  spoke  of  would 
be  left  in  the  gymnasium  and  many  pupils  of  talent 
and  genius  put  out.  To  be  sure,  I  do  not  know  the 
Austrian  gymnasia;  but  the  system  of  examinations 
is  pretty  much  the  same  in  most  countries ! 

But  are  our  demands  the  utopian  dreams  of  ideal- 
ists, as  has  often  been  said  of  Pestalozzi  and  Rous- 
seau, or  can  they  be  realised?  Now  we  can  say  with 
satisfaction  that  they  are  realised  already. 

The  first  modern  model  school  founded  in  accord- 
ance with  the  fundamental  principles  of  a  rational 
pedagogy  is  the  work  of  Dr.  Reddie  in  Abbotsholme, 
England.  A  German  teacher,  Dr.  Lietz  from  Rügen, 
a  genuine  self-made  man,  who  had  studied  theology 
in  Berlin  and  at  the  same  time  had  worked  his  par- 
ents' property  as  a  farmer  in  the  holidays,  came  to 


OF  DEVELOPMENT  OR  CHILDHOOD  295 

Abbotsholme  as  teacher  of  German,  improved  the 
instruction  there,  and  in  April,  1898,  founded  an 
Abbotsholme  after  his  own  ideas  in  Ilsenburg  in  the 
Hartz  Mountains. 

As  a  member  of  the  Berlin  Anti- Alcohol  League  he 
had  learned  in  his  own  person  the  advantages  of  total 
abstinence  and  introduced  it  as  a  principal  rule  in  his 
school.  He  called  his  school  the  German  Country 
Training  Home  (Deutsches  Landerziehungsheim), 
and  teachers  and  pupils  regarded  themselves  as  citi- 
zens of  the  school  state.  In  this  way,  Dr.  Lietz 
wanted  to  establish  the  idea  of  a  community  of  work 
between  teachers  and  pupils  from  the  very  beginning 
and  to  remove  every  barrier  that  might  separate  them. 

The  most  important  practical  principles  of  the 
home  are  as  follows: 

A  busy  and  regular  life  from  the  time  the  pupils 
get  up  in  the  morning  until  they  go  to  bed;  physical 
work  and  exercises  together  with  mental,  ethical,  and 
aesthetic  work.  Freedom,  responsibility,  and  co- 
operation of  the  pupil  in  the  whole  organisation  and 
discipline  of  the  school.  Voluntary  study  quickened 
by  competition.  Frequent  trips,  always  connected 
with  interesting  instruction.  No  examinations. 
Rich,  wholesome  food  and  sufficient  sleep.  Progres- 
sive hardening  against  cold,  bad  weather,  and  strains 
by  means  of  daily  systematic  training  in  very  differ- 
ent kinds  of  bodily  work,  which,  however,  all  have  a 
practical  value.  Daily  artistic  exercises,  such  as 
modelling   and   drawing   from   nature,   singing   and 


296  NERVOUS  AND  MENTAL  HYGIENE 

playing,  and  the  study  of  works  of  art.  The  cultiva- 
tion of  general  religious,  ethical,  and  patriotic  feel- 
ings on  every  solemn  occasion  in  the  open  air  or  the 
woods  and  on  historical  and  scientific  anniversaries 
which  are  celebrated  with  the  aid  of  art  and  poetry. 
The  removal  of  all  external  compulsions  and  all  pun- 
ishments and  rewards  which  do  not  result  naturally 
from  the  very  nature  of  the  fault  or  the  accomplished 
work  in  question. 

The  scientific  instruction  is  in  accordance  with  the 
laws  of  pedagogics  and  seeks  to  arouse  the  attention 
and  interest  of  the  pupil  through  sense-perception 
and  practical  activity.  He  is  taught  to  observe,  to 
think,  to  judge,  and  to  compare  exactly  and  logically. 
The  instruction  in  languages  is  carried  on  through 
conversations,  exercises,  readings,  free  compositions, 
and  songs  in  the  language  to  be  learned.  Every- 
thing that  bores  and  disgusts  is  banished  completely 
from  every  class,  especially  dictata,  extempore  exer- 
cises, and  impositions. 

Wherever  possible  the  instructor  teaches  in  his 
mother  tongue.  They  read  works  of  genius  and 
borrow  from  them  all  that  stimulates  to  noble 
thoughts  and  unselfish  deeds.  By  talks  between 
teachers  and  pupils,  the  latter  learn  to  speak  and  to 
discuss.  By  free  compositions  about  the  things  dis- 
cussed in  the  conversations  they  learn  to  express  them- 
selves in  writing. 

The  walls  of  the  home  are  decorated  everywhere 
with  works  of  art.      A  complete  Froebel  collection 


OF  DEVELOPMENT  OR  CHILDHOOD  297 

serves  for  the  object  lessons  along  with  nature,  fac- 
tories, workshops,  trips,   and  walks. 

The  aim  of  the  school,  according  to  Dr.  Lietz,  is 
to  make  out  of  the  pupils  men  of  harmonious  and  in- 
dependent character,  sound  and  strong  in  body  and 
mind,  skilled  and  practical  with  their  hands,  apt  in 
literature,  science,  and  art,  capable  of  thinking  clearly 
and  logically,  warm  in  their  feelings,  strong  and 
courageous  in  will. 

After  two  years  and  a  half,  Ilsenburg  was  too  small, 
and  Dr.  Lietz  founded  a  second  country  education 
home  for  the  middle  classes  in  the  baronial  estate 
Ilaubinda  in  Streufdorf,  Thuringia.  He  went  there 
himself  and  left  the  direction  of  Ilsenburg  to  an 
extraordinarily  capable  co-worker,  Dr.  Winecke. 
Since  the  institution  of  the  first  school,  now  almost 
five  years  ago,  the  "  school-citizens  "  of  both  the  Ger- 
man country  training  homes  have  undertaken  numer- 
ous trips,  generally  by  wheel,  sleeping  under  canvas 
or  in  the  open  air,  visiting  cities,  towns,  and  factories, 
and  using  all  for  their  instruction.  Thus  a  visit  was 
made  to  the  school  in  Abbotsholme,  England,  an- 
other to  the  Paris  Exposition,  and  a  third  to  Switzer- 
land. Now  all  the  classes  of  the  Realschulen  and 
Obergymnasien  are  organised  for  pupils  of  from 
eight  to  nineteen.  The  army  examination  ( Ein  jäh- 
rig-Frei willigen-Examen)  has  already  been  taken 
with  good  results  by  the  pupils  at  Haubinda.  In  this 
school  alone  there  were  already  more  than  a  hundred 
pupils  and  fourteen  or  fifteen  teachers  in  1902.    The 


298  NERVOUS  AND  MENTAL  HYGIENE 

pupils  take  part  in  all  the  work,  have  made  earth- 
works and  dug  swimming  basins  in  Haubinda,  carry 
on  gardening,  agriculture,  cabinet-making,  and  lock- 
smith's work,  and  to  a  large  extent  write  the  school 
reports  themselves  and  the  accounts  to  trips  which  are 
incorporated  in  them.  When  I  went  to  visit  Hau- 
binda I  found  Dr.  Lietz  and  his  pupils  in  the  field, 
clothed  only  in  straw  hats,  knee-breeches  and  sandals, 
busy  with  the  vegetable  crop.  Football  is  played  in 
a  similar  costume.  All  of  the  pupils  acquire  a  handi- 
craft. Each  one  is  given  a  plot  of  ground  which  he 
cultivates  as  he  will  and  whose  products  belong  to 
him.  The  food  is  rich  and  excellent  and  the  time  ad- 
mirably arranged  in  this  school  state  with  its  ways  at 
once  patriarchal  and  fraternal. 

The  periods  for  instruction  last  forty-five  minutes, 
with  an  interval  of  fifteen  minutes  between  them; 
and  in  them  a  joyous  competition  between  pupils  and 
teacher  reigns,  each  working  with  pleasure  and  inter- 
est, and  trying  through  pure  rivalry  to  work  as  fast 
and  as  well  as  he  can.  But  he  is  not  compelled  to; 
for  external  compulsion  is  unknown.  Instruction 
proper  lasts  from  6  to  11  a.m.,  the  physical  work  from 
2  to  4  p.m.;  and  from  4  to  5.30  the  pupils  do  their 
exercises  under  the  supervision  of  an  older  pupil,  the 
prefect,  but  are  at  liberty  to  help  each  other.  If  they 
have  not  been  able  to  finish  their  exercises  in  this  time 
they  are  neither  punished  nor  blamed  and  do  not  have 
to  do  them  over  again ;  but  no  one  wants  to  be  behind, 
and  the  brighter  ones  help  the  less  gifted.     That  is 


OF  DEVELOPMENT  OR  CHILDHOOD  299 

the  spirit  that  Dr.  Lietz  spreads  amongst  the  pupils 
of  his  home;  and  any  one  who  seeks  to  introduce  the 
spirit  of  egoism,  of  ridicule,  of  blackguardism  stands 
in  the  pillory  of  general  contempt,  and  instead  of  be- 
coming a  ringleader  is  sent  to  Coventry.  A  sixteen- 
year  old  boy  said  to  Mr.  Ferriere  of  Geneva:  "We 
have  no  bad  thoughts  here,  we  think  of  other  things, 
and  then  in  the  evening  we  are  too  tired  and  are  glad 
to  go  to  bed  and  sleep." 

This  fatigue  however  is  a  healthy  fatigue,  and  the 
mental  and  physical  appearance  of  the  pupils  is  re- 
markably good. 

It  is  amusing  to  watch  the  pupils  during  their  free 
hours  (e.  g.,  between  11  and  12).  There  is  neither 
monotonous  boredom  nor  crowds  gathered  to  carry 
out  boyish  pranks.  One  bathes,  another  is  stretched 
on  the  grass  reading,  a  third  is  walking  and  discuss- 
ing something  with  a  chum,  a  fourth  is  riding  his 
wheel,  another  is  asking  his  teacher  this  or  that,  while 
others  are  working  in  their  garden  or  their  shop.  This 
independence  and  lack  of  compulsion  make  a  rare 
impression  of  well-being.  As  for  Dr.  Lietz  himself 
he  was  indefatigable  everywhere,  in  work  on  the 
buildings,  in  his  recitations,  in  the  hay-field,  in  foot- 
ball, taking  a  hand  himself  everywhere.  He  bothers 
himself  very  little  about  drawing-room  manners  and 
so-called  bon-ton,  but  takes  all  the  more  interest  in 
the  true  heart-qualities  of  his  pupils,  their  upright- 
ness, their  spirit  of  kindness  and  accommodation,  their 
morals,  and  their  social  sympathy. 


3oo  NERVOUS  AND  MENTAL  HYGIENE 

Peaceful  and  interesting  is  the  evening  service.  At 
it  there  are  always  readings  from  gifted  authors 
whose  words  lift  up  the  soul.  Under  the  great 
oaks  of  the  estate  the  pupils  thoughtfully  assemble. 
Charming  parables  suited  to  the  situation,  clear,  ethic- 
ally effective  and  impressive  passages  from  the 
Bible  or  the  wisdom  of  the  ancients  are  chosen  and 
properly  applied.  The  ideal  atmosphere  which 
permeates  the  institution  is  one  of  individualism 
harmoniously  blended  with  altruism  and  social 
solidarity. 

The  school  in  Glarisegg  was  founded  by  Dr.  W. 
Frei  and  Mr.  Werner  Zuberbiihler,  both  pupils  of 
Dr.  Lietz,  and  opened  in  the  spring  of  1902.  After 
only  a  year  there  were  forty  pupils.  During  the 
last  summer  vacation  I  had  the  pleasure  of  being 
visited  by  some  of  them ;  they  had  wheeled  through  the 
Swiss  mountains.  Each  had  a  part  of  the  tent  but- 
toned to  his  wheel  and  when  it  was  all  put  together 
it  served  as  a  lodging-house  throughout  the  whole 
trip.  It  was  also  set  up  in  front  of  our  house. 
Sunburnt,  jolly,  and  in  famous  condition  the  boys 
spent  two  days  with  us  and  showed  a  great  inter- 
est in  the  objects  of  natural  science  which  I  showed 
them. 

In  the  Swiss  country  education  home  of  Glari- 
segg the  work  is  quite  similar  to  that  in  Ilsenburg- 
Haubinda.  Every  study  hour  lasts  forty-five 
minutes.  The  following  table  shows  how  the  time  is 
divided : 


OF  DEVELOPMENT  OR  CHILDHOOD 


301 


Science  and 
Art 

Manual 
Labour 

Free  Times, 
Intervals 
and  Play 

Meal  Times 

Sleep 

Instruction 
225  minutes 

Study 
45  minutes 

General 
meeting 
(worship) 
30  minutes 

Garden 
55  minutes 

Workshop 
55  minutes 

Housework 
60  minutes 

Short  pauses 
85  minutes 

Free 

180  minutes 

Common 
games  and 
gymnastics 
45  minutes 

Meal  time 
90  minutes 

Night's  rest 

9  hours 
30  minutes 

5  hours 

2  hours 
50  minutes 

5  hours 
10  minutes 

1  hour 
30  minutes 

9  hours 
30  minutes 

In  the  matter  of  scholarship  the  results  of  the  coun- 
try training  homes  are  capital.  What  we  learn  with 
pleasure  and  interest  stays  in  the  brain  much  better 
than  what  is  crammed  in  by  force  with  disgust  and 
tedium  in  a  desperate  fight  against  other  thoughts 
and  distraction.  The  constant  pressure  and  anxiety 
produced  by  our  pedantic,  dry,  one-sided,  and  un- 
psychological  method  of  instruction,  with  its  penal- 
ties, pensums,  examinations,  and  overloading  of  the 
memory  without  sufficient  understanding,  detract 
from  the  pleasure  and  the  spontaneous  interest  which 
are  the  conditions  of  intelligent  learning.  Granted 
that  in  many  schools  progress  has  been  won  in  the 
directions  indicated,  yet  it  is  still  very  unsatisfactory 
and  partial.  Even  the  teachers  who  would  like  to 
make  a  reform  are  hindered  by  fixed  programs  and 


302  NERVOUS  AND  MENTAL  HYGIENE 

prescriptions.  The  banishing  of  all  alcoholic  drinks 
from  the  English,  German,  and  Swiss  country  home 
schools  forms  in  any  case  an  important  factor  of  their 
success:  heads  always  clear,  consistent  sobriety,  train- 
ing the  full  force  of  nerve  and  muscle  and  making  the 
most  of  them  without  any  reduction  through  alcohol.1 

A  country  training  home  for  girls  has  been  founded 
by  Frau  v.  Petersenn  on  Lake  Stolpe  (Stolpersee) 
near  Berlin  and  has  succeeded  quite  as  well  as  those 
for  boys.  A  branch  for  older  girls  has  now  been 
founded  near  Radolfzell  on  Lake  Constance.  Girls 
have  claims  as  well  as  boys  to  a  sound  and  natural 
education.  For  the  rest,  the  opinion  is  continually 
gaining  ground  that  a  common  education  of  the  two 
sexes  is  the  best  morally  and  in  every  other  way.  It 
is  therefore  to  be  hoped  that  with  time  the  country 
training  homes  will  carry  out  this  principle. 

Up  to  the  present  time,  the  country  training  homes 
are  private  schools;  yet  the  cantonal  government  of 
Thurgau  manifests  a  great  friendly  interest  in  Glar- 
isegg.  How  far  the  State  institutions  will  be  able 
to  adopt  the  advanced  position  is  not  yet  clear.  Yet 
I  am  fully  persuaded  that  with  good  intentions  many 
of  the  principles  of  the  school  state  (without  the 
boarding  feature)  might  be  introduced  into  the  state 
schools,  though  of  course  they  wTould  need  a  more 
rural  location.  In  the  town  schools  it  would  go 
very  well,  according  to  my  ideas,  if  they  would  give 

1  The  programs  of  the  German  country  training  homes  ( Landerzie- 
hungsheime) are  to  be  had  from  Ferd.  Dümmler's  bookshop  in  Berlin. 


OF  DEVELOPMENT  OR  CHILDHOOD  303 

the  schoolmaster  an  assistant  for  the  manual  work. 

The  country  training  homes  should  prepare  their 
pupils  for  the  technical  schools  as  well  as  for  the  uni- 
versities. A  few  difficulties,  especially  with  refer- 
ence to  the  ancient  languages,  with  whose  forms  our 
gymnasia  and  leaving  examinations  are  still  over- 
burdened, would  still  have  to  be  overcome.  Herr 
Lietz,  however,  has  already  founded  a  third  Lander- 
ziehungsheim for  the  higher  classes  in  Castle  Bieber- 
stein  near  Fulda  and  several  of  his  pupils  have  now 
taken  the  leaving  examination  (Maturität)  with  the 
best  results.  But  the  results  already  attained  give 
us  a  right  to  the  fairest  hopes.  There  is  agitation 
everywhere  and  the  purifying  air  of  the  country 
training  homes  comes  like  the  liberation  of  our  youth 
from  a  mental  and  spiritual  strait- jacket.  May  that 
breath  of  freedom  soon  blow  away  the  old  routine, 
and  above  all  may  we  devote  all  our  attention  to  the 
education  of  the  teacher  in  the  new  spirit. 

3.  Ne?*ve  Hygiene  of  the  Home  and  the  Family- 
For  reasons  already  explained  this  is  a  bad  subject, 
because  preaching  does  no  good,  since  parents  of  bad 
disposition  will  always  be  bad  educators.  A  great 
deal  is  said  about  the  beauty  and  goodness  of  family 
life,  but  the  ideal  which  that  implies  is  unfortunately 
seldom  realised.  While  actually,  perhaps  in  the  ma- 
jority of  families,  odious  quarrels  of  the  parents, 
lies,  vanity,  selfishness,  irritated  moods,  and  humours 
compete  with  foolish  affection,  overindulgence,  lack 
of  judgment,  and  superstition  to  give  the  children 


3o4  NERVOUS  AND  MENTAL  HYGIENE 

the  worst  example  and  the  worst  habits  from  the  earl- 
iest youth;  it  is  not  so  seldom- that  we  find  a  directly 
criminal  selfishness  which  tries  to  gain  money  in  most 
scandalous  ways  by  the  exploitation  of  inconvenient 
children,  and  which  systematically  trains  them  in  beg- 
ging, stealing,  or  lying,  or,  in  the  worst  cases,  even  at- 
tempts to  torture  them  to  a  lingering  death  and  get 
rid  of  them  by  systematic  maltreatment,  by  the  refined 
cultivation  of  diseases,  and  even  by  starvation.  Such 
a  misuse  of  the  power,  far  too  great,  which  our  laws 
give  parents  over  helpless  children,  is  due  not  only  to 
the  wish  to  get  rid  of  a  child  that  it  costs  too  much  to 
feed  and  clothe  and  care  for,  but  also  to  feelings  of 
the  baser  sort  such  as  jealousy  and  false  shame.  Of 
this  latter  the  chief  victims  are  illegitimate  children; 
of  the  former,  step-children.  We  must  therefore 
agree  completely  with  the  founder  of  the  society  for 
the  protection  and  rescue  of  children,  and  of  the  whole 
work  of  protection  and  rescue  in  Vienna,  Fräulein 
Lydia  v.  Wolf  ring,  when  she  demands  a  much  greater 
limitation  of  the  parental  power  and  its  complete  ab- 
judication in  more  serious  cases.1  The  so-called  bet- 
ter circles  of  society  are  not  acquainted  with  this  sink 
of  moral  depravity  and  pass  indifferently  by;  and  I 
advise  any  one  who  takes  the  "  sanctity  of  family 
life  "  seriously  to  get  in  closer  touch  with  the  ques- 
tion, to  study  the  family  life  of  the  criminal  prole- 
tariat, and  to  read  the  works  of  Fräulein  v.  Wolfring, 

1  Die  Aberkennung  der  väterlichen  Gewalt,  Vienna,  1902,  and  other 
works  by  the  same  author. 


OF  DEVELOPMENT  OR  CHILDHOOD         305 

the  novel  of  Walter  Biolley,  LJApaisement/  or  some 
other  similar  work,  and  many  other  pictures  by  mod- 
ern social  reformers.  These  pictures  are  not  exag- 
gerated; they  portray  conditions  which  cry  aloud  for 
redress.  We  have  given  the  parents  a  power  over 
their  children  which  is  by  far  too  uncontrolled,  and 
its  exercise  is  mostly  a  matter  of  whim  and  interest 
rather  than  of  love  and  reason.  We  should  certainly 
try  to  counteract  bad  home-influences  in  the  school; 
and  to  do  this  successfully,  the  school  should  be  trans- 
formed according  to  the  principles  of  the  country 
training  home.  And  what  should  parents  do? 
First  of  all,  observe  their  children  and  love  them  and 
bring  them  up  with  reference  to  their  later  future. 
If  they  discover  good  and  sturdy  qualities  they  must 
develop  them  further  and  combat  the  bad  ones.  But 
this  latter  can  not  be  done  successfully  by  scoldings, 
injudiciously  repeated  punishments,  and  accusations 
and  complaints,  such  as  are  usual  with  parents. 
Every  one  knows  that  irritated  accusations  always 
repeated  in  the  same  tone  remain  absolutely  ineffec- 
tive and  only  provoke  contradiction;  so  that  the  time 
gradually  comes  when  there  is  never  an  end  of  little 
angry  words  and  the  replies  they  provoke;  irritated 
speeches  and  rejoinders  are  automatically  repeated 
in  the  same  tone  at  every  opportunity;  and  finally  a 
permanent  habit  of  quarrelling  grows  up  between 
parents  and  children  which  kills  good  feeling,  so  that 
the  result  of  it  all  is  the  exact  opposite  of  what  the 

1  Published  by  Dubois  in  La  Chaux-de-fonds,  Switzerland. 


3o6  NERVOUS  AND  MENTAL  HYGIENE 

parents  intended.  The  parents  should  therefore 
watch  themselves  and  neyer  threaten  unless  they  are 
able  and  willing  to  carry  out  their  threats,  and  never 
punish  and  scold  ineffectually,  but  rather  let  the  child 
teach  himself  from  the  evil  consequences  that  spring 
spontaneously  from  the  very  nature  of  his  faults.  To 
be  gentle  and  loving  in  speech,  to  be  strong,  consistent, 
and  mild  in  the  treatment  of  the  child,  and  above  all, 
always  to  set  a  good  example,  are  the  great  things 
in  education  or  training.  Lies  should  be  carefully 
combated  as  well  as  coarseness  of  sentiment  and  self- 
ishness. We  should  work  more  through  the  stimu- 
lation of  good  feelings,  of  sympathy,  self-sacrifice, 
magnanimity,  than  by  blaming  the  bad.  True  love 
does  not  flatter  or  foster  a  child's  vanity.  The  child 
must  be  trained  to  work,  but  in  his  own  interest,  and 
not  for  exploitation,  as  so  often  happens.  Super- 
stition, mysticism,  alarming  legends  and  stories  of 
robbers  must  be  carefully  avoided.  The  child  should 
neither  be  kept  in  constant  fear  nor  be  made  to  obey 
through  fear;  it  should  never  be  deceived  and  should 
be  able  to  count  on  the  truthfulness  of  its  parents  with 
absolute  security.  It  must  not  be  always  kept  in 
ignorance  of  the  dangers  and  wickednesses  of  the 
world,  but  only  learn  to  abhor  them.  On  the  one  side 
we  must  carefully  seek  to  avoid  emotional  wounds  x 
which  are  easily  made  through  fright,  wickedness, 
sexual  attempts,  and  the  like;  and  on  the  other  we 
must  systematically  train  the  feelings  of  the  child 

1  See  Chapter  VIII. 


OF  DEVELOPMENT  OR  CHILDHOOD  307 

against  supersensitiveness  and  Tearfulness  by  calmly 
accustoming  him  to  things.  A  special  danger  lies  in 
mental  infection  and  bad  suggestions.1  On  that  ac- 
count a  general  supervision  of  the  children's  sur- 
roundings and  intercourse  is  necessary,  so  that  they 
shall  not  succumb  to  bad  influences.  For  similar 
reasons  it  is  necessary  to  give  them  a  rational  know- 
ledge of  sexual  relations  in  good  season,  for  anxiety 
and  shame  in  connection  with  erotic  feelings  and  an 
unhealthy  curiosity  tend  to  injure  the  child's  emo- 
tional tone.  Moreover  we  must  look  out  for  sexual 
abnormalities,  especially  for  habits  of  self -pollution, 
which  so  often  result  from  bad  example  or  corrup- 
tion by  other  children.  Phimosis  (or  adhesion  of  the 
foreskin)  in  the  case  of  boys  and  pinworms  (oxyuris 
vermiculosus )  more  especially  with  girls  also  tend  to 
cause  this  and  must  be  removed,  the  former  by  an 
operation.  All  morbid  stimulations  of  the  nervous 
system,  and  especially  of  the  feelings,  must  be 
avoided,  a  matter  which  is  excellently  cared  for  in  the 
system  of  the  country  training  homes.  As  for  young 
men  and  the  temptations  with  which  they  are  con- 
fronted, we  must  remember  that  hard  work  and  high 
ideals  both  make  for  purity,  and  so  long  as  they  be- 
have themselves  they  need  not  worry  about  pheno- 
mena that  are  perfectly  natural. 

We  believe  it  is  a  duty  to  children  to  avoid  one- 
sided dogmatic  teaching  and  "  pious  lies."  In  mat- 
ters of  religious  and  metaphysical  belief  the  child 

»See  Chapter  VIII. 


3o8  NERVOUS  AND  MENTAL  HYGIENE 

should  become  familiar  with  all  the  different  views 
and  actually  feel  perfectly  free  to  decide  for  himself. 

It  is  moreover  a  high  duty  of  education  to  combat 
prejudices  and  belief  in  authorities,  as  well  as  all 
luxury  and  everything  that  complicates  life  unneces- 
sarily. Altogether  too  quickly  the  young  children, 
especially  the  girls,  ape  the  trumpery  and  the  silly 
fashions  of  their  elders  in  clothing  and  customs.  This 
overvaluation  of  external  and  often  foolish  forms 
smothers  the  ideal,  while  the  aim  of  a  proper  educa- 
tion should  be  the  cultivation  of  this  very  ideal  ele- 
ment. Moreover,  if  people  were  only  simpler  and 
willing  to  live  according  to  the  principles  laid  down  in 
this  book  they  could  marry  earlier  and  avoid  many  a 
temptation  and  difficulty. 

After  all  that  has  been  said  we  need  hardly  repeat 
that  besides  fresh  air,  free  movement,  and  appro- 
priate food,  constant  regard  for  the  law  of  exercise 
forms  the  foundation  of  positive  nervous  hygiene  and 
brain  training  far  more  in  childhood  than  at  any 
other  age.  We  therefore  conclude  this  section  by 
referring  once  more  to  Chapters  VIII.  and  IX. 

In  the  case  of  morbid  tendencies  and  bad  habits, 
as  well  as  with  functional  nervous  abnormalities  in 
general,  hypnotic  suggestion  can  affect  children  very 
favourably;  though  of  course  it  cannot  alter  the 
inherited  tendencies,  but  only  combat  their  conse- 
quences to  some  extent.  Yet  it  is  a  sovereign  remedy 
with  acquired  bad  habits. 

The  child  must  be  trained  to  independence  in  life's 


OF  DEVELOPMENT  OR  CHILDHOOD         309 

struggle,  his  nervous  system  must  be  constantly 
strengthened  accordingly,  and  his  capacities  brought 
to  the  most  manifold  development  possible. 

Perhaps  it  is  in  place  here  to  appeal  to  the  good 
sense  of  all  people,  especially  of  all  fathers  and  moth- 
ers, that  they  should  at  last  get  rid  of  the  supersti- 
tious belief  in  secret  remedies  and  so-called  '  cure 
systems  '  which  are  supposed  to  cure  all  diseases. 
All  remedies  and  systems  of  cures  which  are  puffed 
in  advertisements  can  be  characterised  as  highly  sus- 
picious, and  those  advertised  in  the  daily  papers  are 
almost  certainly  swindles.  If  anything  has  a  real 
value  medicine  knew  about  it  long  ago.  There  can 
be  no  general  system  of  cure  for  all  diseases,  because 
each  one  of  them  is  somewhat  different  from  every 
other.  A  disease  must  first  be  exactly  investigated 
and  recognised  before  wre  set  out  to  cure  it.  Physi- 
cians are  often  tempted  to  swindle  by  the  unreason- 
ableness of  the  sick,  who  are  often  afraid  of  the  only 
measures  (  such  as  operations)  which  can  help  them 
and  insist  throughout  on  visible  and  tangible  medi- 
cine— with  a  nice  taste.  It  is  thus  the  public  that 
trains  many  physicians  in  quackery.  But  the  great 
thing  for  the  patient  is  to  assure  himself  of  the  ca- 
pacity and  conscientiousness  of  the  physician  that  he 
consults.  And  now  people  are  prating  of  a  natural 
healing  art  and  natural  methods,  as  though  the  whole 
science  of  medicine  had  any  other  aim  than  the  art 
of  healing  by  finding  out  the  nature  of  diseases.  The 
name  "  natural  system  of  healing  "  is  only  a  mask 
for  crass  ignorance  if  not  for  humbug. 


CHAPTER  XII 

SPECIAL  NERVE  HYGIENE  FOR  ADULTS 

1.  General.  This  chapter  can  be  greatly  abbre- 
viated from  the  fact  that  we  have  already  become  ac- 
quainted in  Chapter  VIII.  with  the  causes  of  mental 
and  nervous  disturbances  which  we  have  to  combat, 
in  Chapter  IX.  with  the  general  foundations  of  nerv- 
ous hygiene,  and  in  Chapters  X.  and  XI.  with  the 
preconditions  necessary  for  the  development  of  the 
best  possible  nervous  health.  What  we  said  about 
this  in  the  last  chapter  also  holds  as  a  general  princi- 
ple for  adults  in  the  further  struggle  of  life. 

When  a  young  man's  growth  and  studies  are  fin- 
ished life  stands  before  him. 

Unfortunately  nowadays  a  one-sided  education 
which  aims  at  pleasure-seeking,  money-getting,  and 
selfishness,  and  perhaps  also  includes  too  close  an  ac- 
quaintance with  alcohol  and  venereal  diseases,  gives 
our  young  men  an  early  training  in  place-hunting 
and  philistinism,  and  does  it  so  thoroughly  that  in  by 
far  the  great  majority  of  cases  every  sound  and  noble 
ideal  of  life  is  killed.  Is  it  much  better  with  the 
young  girls?  The  old  education  of  solid,  reliable 
girls  to  modesty  and  capable,  diligent  housework  is 

310 


ADULTS  311 

not  completed,  as  it  should  have  been,  by  a  more  lib- 
eral and  thorough  mental  training  which  might  have 
led  to  a  rational  broadening  of  their  horizon;  it  is 
replaced  on  the  one  side  by  a  superficial,  discon- 
nected smattering  of  many  things,  and  on  the  other 
by  frivolous  vanity,  luxury,  and  pleasure-seeking. 
The  great  aim  of  life  with  our  modern  young  girls 
seems  to  be  to  make  a  "  good  match."  The  competi- 
tion of  both  the  sexes  in  this  respect  leads  to  a  sor- 
did bartering,  of  wThich  true  love  and  true  married 
happiness  are  often  the  victims.  For  this  reason,  the 
educational  reform  of  the  country  training  homes  is 
to  be  hailed  as  a  true  godsend  for  the  nervous  health 
and  the  life-happiness  of  the  growing  generation. 
Yet  still  worse  is  the  state  of  affairs  with  the  prole- 
tariat, as  is  shown  by  the  demoralisation  of  family  life 
and  children's  training  already  depicted  in  a  previous 
chapter.1 

1  As  early  as  1892  I  wrote  the  following,  amongst  other  things,  in  the 
International  Monthly  for  the  Combating  of  Drinking  Customs  and  in 
the  Swiss  Family  Weekly  (Schweizerisches  Familien-Wochenblatt)  under 
the  title  "  Nerve  Hygiene  and  Happiness"  : 

"  '  Too  many  nerves,  too  little  nerve  ,'  Professor  Krafft-Ebing  has  said 
of  our  modern  generation. 

"  When  a  man  and  woman  are  in  love  and  wish  to  be  united  for  life 
they  should  never  forget  that  in  so  doing  they  assume  great  responsibil- 
ities— for  their  future  children.  They  should  rather  renounce  marriage, 
or  at  least  the  having  of  children,  than  engender  physical,  or  worse 
still,  mental  weaklings.  But  unfortunately  nowadays  we  find  noble 
natures,  people  of  better  and  higher  tendencies,  anxiously  exaggerate 
these  considerations  and  avoid  marriage  or  the  having  of  children  on 
that  account,  while,  on  the  contrary,  the  most  addle-pated,  brutal,  and 
stupid  of  people  breed  almost  like  rabbits,  under  the  protection  of  laws 
that  rest  on  a  mistaken  humanitarianism,  and  then  conveniently  leave 


3i2  NERVOUS  AND  MENTAL  HYGIENE 

To  be  really  happy  a  person  (i.  e.,  his  brain)  must 
first  of  all  be  and  remain  healthy ;  in  the  second  place, 
he  must  go  through  the  life  history  traced  out  for  him 
by  ontogeny;  and  in  the  third  place  he  must  have  an 
ideal,  or  strive  for  something  higher.  The  advocate 
of  nervous  hygiene  has  a  right  to  demand  that  so  far 
as  the  requirements  of  an  earthly  human  ideal  are 
concerned  the  orthodox  should  unite  forces  with 
agnostics,  freethinkers,  and  monists  to  attain  a  better 
state  of  society. 

What  are  the  higher  forces  that  can  give  the  hu- 
man spirit  courage  to  strive  upward  and  keep  its 
lower  passions  and  its  love  of  pleasure  in  check? 
They  are  first  of  all  firm  hope  for  a  better  future  of 
our  race,  i.  e.,  of  the  descendants,  the  children,  the  bet- 
ter part  of  the  self,  that  will  live  on  in  them.  Then 
in  the  second  place  there  is  joy  in  the  good  deed  done, 
the  difficulty  overcome,  the  progressive  knowledge  of 
nature  and  its  secrets,  the  fine,  high  harmony  of  art 
and  its  creations.      Every  one  who  contributes  his 


the  progeny  to  the  State  or  to  public  institutions,  generally  after  they 
have  made  their  original  bad  tendencies  still  worse  by  alcoholic  excesses. 
And  with  this  mismanagement,  this  reversed  selection,  people  still 
wonder  at  the  increase  of  mental  diseases,  of  lunatic  asylums,  of  a 
stupefied  proletariat,  of  morally  defective  vagrants  and  criminals  !  We 
speak  of  overwork  as  the  cause  of  the  trouble,  and  overlook  the  fact 
that  the  greater  part  of  this  spiritual  proletariat  has  never  overworked, 
but  only  become  more  and  more  useless  and  lazy;  and  that  the  '  nervous- 
ness' which  really  arises  from  overwork  forms  only  a  small  and 
relatively  harmless  drop  in  the  bucket,  while  the  endless  crowds  of 
mental  shipwrecks  almost  always  owe  their  calamity  to  morbid  or  bad 
cerebral  tendencies,  to  licentiousness,  and  in  an  enormous  percent  of 
cases  to  alcohol." 


ADULTS  313 

brick  (be  it  large  or  small)  to  the  building  of  our  hu- 
man culture  whether  it  be  in  the  sphere  of  science,  of 
social  ethics,  or  of  art,  will  find  his  reward  in  the 
satisfying  feeling  that  he  has  helped  to  realise  the 
ideal  towards  which  he  strives  and  which  should 
hover  before  every  one.  The  great  blunder  of  many 
is  the  overstrained  demand  for  everything  in  life  or 
nothing,  the  tendency  to  give  up  at  once  and  hold  that 
life  is  not  worth  living  just  because  one  cannot  do  or 
attain  everything,  and  consequently  to  fall  gradually 
into  pessimism  or  selfish  debauchery.  Of  course,  I 
am  speaking  here  only  of  those  whose  brains  are  able 
to  rise  above  the  monotony  of  a  thoughtless  animal 
existence. 

We  have  seen  in  Chapter  XI.  that  a  proper,  happy, 
and  healthy  brain-development  should  include  con- 
stant and  many-sided  mental  and  bodily  work  and 
one  or  more  specialties.  To  this  there  should  be 
added  also  an  ideal  aim  in  life,  which  may  consist  of 
scientific  investigation,  artistic  creation,  works  of  so- 
cial and  ethical  betterment,  or  educational  efforts. 
Work  in  service  of  the  ideal  is  fundamentally  differ- 
ent from  the  work  of  breadwinning  because  of  its  dis- 
interestedness. I  have  said  elsewhere  that  Knowledge 
is  a  fair  creature  who  wishes  to  be  loved  for  her  own 
sake  and  whose  culture  for  mere  gain  is  little  better 
than  a  sterile  prostitution.  This  is  true  of  every  aim 
in  life,  however  ideal  it  may  have  been  in  itself  to  be- 
gin with,  when  it  becomes  associated  with  sordid  place- 
hunting  and  even  grows  at  last  into  a  leading  motive 


3i4  NERVOUS  AND  MENTAL  HYGIENE 

of  trade.  Thus  the  social  battle  against  mammon 
makes  a  great  indirect  contribution  to  the  improve- 
ment of  our  nerve  hygiene. 

If  we  have  given  our  life  an  aim  by  the  choice  of  a 
sound  and  true  ideal  we  must  not  let  that  make  us 
forget  the  first  two  conditions  of  happiness,  our  health 
and  the  fulfilment  of  our  natural  evolution.  This 
latter  includes  love  between  the  sexes  and  the  found- 
ing of  a  family.  Marriages  between  those  who  are 
not  fitted  to  each  other  are  sorry  alliances,  and  people 
should  know  each  other  well  before  they  take  the  step. 
But  the  worst  thing  for  a  marriage  is  the  previous 
selfish  calculations  of  the  two;  two  egoists  clash  with 
each  other  and  deceive  each  other,  and  war  is  de- 
clared— unless  the  pair  enter  into  a  selfish  partner- 
ship to  the  injury  of  the  rest  of  society.  When 
marriage  is  entered  into  by  two  reasonably  normal 
people,  i.  e.,  two  who  are  not  generally  incapable  of 
leading  a  useful  life  through  irritability,  freakishness, 
trickiness,  alcoholism,  laziness,  pleasure-seeking, 
and  extravagance,  they  should  lay  down  for  them- 
selves the  following  fundamental  principle: 

Marriage  demands  a  double  task;  but  it  gives  us 
the  strength  for  it.  In  marriage  each  should  set  out 
with  the  principle  to  give  and  not  take,  to  bear  all 
things  for  the  happiness  of  the  union,  and  never  to 
exploit  the  other,  but  through  daily  love  and  sacri- 
fice to  see  in  him  or  her  a  treasure  for  which  we  gladly 
do  everything  and  give  up  everything,  which  we  tend 
and  cherish  from  pure  joy,  as  we  would  tend  a  beau- 


ADULTS  315 

tiful  plant  that  we  love.  If  each  is  true  to  the  other 
and  both  preserve  this  principle,  they  will  never  be 
angry  with  each  other  very  long,  but  quickly  forgive, 
the  happiness  of  marriage  will  not  be  lacking,  and 
they  will  find  on  earth  the  paradise  of  our  dreams. 
People  have  a  way  of  speaking  ill  of  marriage  nowa- 
days, because  they  see  it  so  often  prostituted  and  be- 
cause so  many  pathological  and  selfish  people  of 
various  sorts  transform  it  into  a  hell.  But  it  is  not  so 
difficult  for  the  two  to  see  each  other  in  something  of 
an  ideal  light  if  they  have  good  will  and  if  each  is 
good  and  sound  at  bottom.  This  by  no  means  pre- 
vents one  of  them  from  training  or  educating  the 
other;  mutual,  elevating,  lasting  love  certainly  does 
not  need  to  degenerate  into  unworthy  weakness  or 
untruthfulness  any  more  than  the  good  and  loving 
training  of  children  is  equivalent  to  foolish  idolising 
and  spoiling.  To  increase  and  refine  married  happi- 
ness, each  should  incite  the  other  to  work  and  to  so- 
cial and  ethical  tasks,  and  they  should  give  them- 
selves a  common  ethical  training,  instead  of  abiding 
narrowly  and  exclusively  in  their  mutual  life.  If  a 
married  couple  feel  themselves  to  be  a  pair  of  social 
labourers  the  death  of  the  one  will  not  destroy  the 
other's  joy  of  working.  And  in  the  same  way  good 
care  for  the  children  gives  added  refinement  and  ele- 
vation to  the  happiness  of  marriage.  Yet  the  child 
must  be  brought  up  to  be  a  useful  and  diligent  mem- 
ber of  the  community.  If  deep  defects  of  character 
or  irreconcilable  differences  dominate  the  marriage 


3i6  NERVOUS  AND  MENTAL  HYGIENE 

its  dissolution  should  be  sufficiently  facilitated  to 
make  it  possible  to  put  an  end  to  such  married  hells. 
By  care  for  the  earning  of  a  living,  the  fulfilment  of 
the  many  duties  which  marriage  and  all  that  it  in- 
volves lays  upon  people,  and  the  pursuit  of  a  proper 
ideal  of  life  in  any  direction — we  mean  the  practical 
pursuit  of  an  ideal  by  work,  and  not  dreams  about  it — 
a  person's  brainrlife  receives  an  appropriate  content 
and  under  normal  circumstances  can  give  him  the  life 
happiness  that  he  desires ;  then  he  can  die  in  peace  and 
contentment. 

We  have  still  to  discuss  nervous  health.  This  in- 
deed is  furthered  most  of  all  by  the  fulfilment  of  the 
two  great  conditions,  negative  and  positive,  already 
mentioned;  and  that  is  something  which  most  people 
are  unfortunately  unwilling  to  realise.  But  of  course 
we  must  admit  that  in  spite  of  the  avoidance  of  all 
poisons  and  excesses  and  in  spite  of  all  one's  efforts 
to  live  according  to  the  rules  of  a  sound  brain  hy- 
giene, emotional  conflicts  and  wounds,  discourage- 
ments, unhappiness,  and  tribulations  of  all  sorts 
cannot  be  kept  out  of  human  life,  and  oppose  them- 
selves to  a  happy  development  of  our  brain  and  ner- 
vous action.  Hence  a  few  special  rules  of  hygiene 
must  be  added  to  the  more  general  ones  already 
given. 

We  must  simply  try  to  force  ourselves  to  optimism ; 
not  a  stupid,  undiscerning  optimism  which  overlooks 
all  that  is  bad  and  abortive  and  in  that  way  makes 
false   calculations   for   the   future,   but   the   healthy, 


ADULTS  317 

buoyant  optimism  that  we  find  in  these  lines  from  the 
well-known  operetta  Die  Fledermaus : 

"  Glücklich  ist, 
Wer  vergist, 
Was  nicht  mehr   zu   ändern   ist."  1 

The  past  is  a  hard  crystal  in  which  we  can  no  longer 
alter  anything;  only  the  future  is  plastic  and  can  be 
partly  predicted  and  prepared  for.  To  be  sure,  the 
past  should  not  be  forgotten  in  the  sense  that  we  are 
unwilling  to  learn  from  it.  On  the  contrary,  it  should 
be  the  teacher  for  the  future.  But  woe  to  the  man 
who  wastes  his  existence  in  brooding  and  despond- 
ency and  lamentation  over  past  misfortunes  and  past 
mistakes.  A  great  sponge  must  be  rubbed  over  this 
sterile  "  life  for  the  dead,"  over  this  barren  mourning 
and  grieving.  If  we  look  closely  we  soon  discover 
that,  apart  from  pathological  tendencies,  this  idle 
lamentation  and  despair  over  lost  happiness  often 
finds  its  roots  in  narrow-heartedness  and  the  selfish 
limitation  of  our  love  to  a  few  chosen  objects.  Be- 
cause the  exclusive  love  of  a  mother  for  her  son  or  a 
wife  for  her  husband  has  left  no  room  in  her  brain 
for  broader  ideals,  life,  happiness,  and  brain  die  out 
for  her  with  his  death  or  ruin.  With  others  the  be- 
loved object  is  a  sack  of  gold;  with  still  others  the 
glitter  of  external  position,  and  so  on.  Then  let  the 
steady  compass  of  our  unswerving  optimism  be :  Ever 
forward  to  a  large-hearted  ideal;  never  look  back! 

1  ["  He  is  happy  who  forgets  what  no  longer  can  be  helped."  Compare 
the  motto  :  There  are  two  things  we  must  not  worry  about — what  we 
can  help  and  what  we  can't  help,— Tr.J 


3i8  NERVOUS  AND  MENTAL  HYGIENE 

And  we  must  not  fall  in  love  with  our  own  past  work. 
This  also  should  serve  only  as  a  library  for  future 
work.  I  cannot  insist  enough  upon  the  importance 
of  this  rule  of  life,  which  is  a  rule  both  of  hygiene  and 
of  ethics,  but  one  against  which  we  sin  continually 
and  grievously.  If  you  have  been  guilty  of  a  fault 
or  a  stupidity,  rectify  it  as  soon  as  possible,  make 
everything  good  that  can  be  made  good,  avoid  the 
repetition  in  the  future,  and  for  the  rest  lay  the 
matter  forever  "  ad  acta."  We  should  do  the  same 
with  the  faults  of  others.  To  be  sure,  it  is  not  such 
an  easy  matter  with  the  faults  that  are  so  bound  up 
with  a  person's  character  that  he  cannot  lay  them 
aside.  At  such  faults  one  must  constantly  labour, 
and  often  erect  regular  walls  of  stone  to  protect  him- 
self and  his  fellowmen  from  the  consequences  of 
relapses. 

A  further  rule  of  nerve  hygiene  is  to  pay  as  little 
attention  as  possible  to  functional  nervous  troubles 
and  disturbances,  so  as  not  to  cultivate  them  by  habit. 
Any  one  with  the  unhappy  tendency  to  pay  constant 
anxious  attention  to  his  health  and  every  annoying 
feeling,  who  continually  feels  himself  sick,  notices  his 
pulse  and  doctors  himself,  is  a  hypochondriac,  and 
hypochondria  is  a  snowball  that  continually  grows  as 
it  rolls.  If  the  hypochondria  is  deeply  inbred  it  is 
simply  incurable  and  the  patient  falls  a  prey  to  the 
avarice  of  every  quack  and  other  medical  swindler. 
Inactive,  well-to-do  people  through  constant  and 
injurious  "  cures,"  unnecessary  precautions,  and  fear 


ADULTS  319 

of  bacteria,  often  cultivate  a  hypochondria  which 
could  have  been  easily  avoided  by  a  healthy  mode  of 
life  such  as  that  of  the  country  training  homes.  In- 
deed, as  we  have  already  seen,  painful  frailties  al- 
ready present  can  often  be  greatly  relieved  or  even 
removed  if  the  attention  is  withdrawn  by  means  of 
work.  Thus  we  must  do  our  best  to  ignore  all  func- 
tional nervous  troubles  in  order  to  turn  back  the 
neurokym  as  far  as  possible  into  a  normal  path. 
Moreover  we  have  already  seen  that  the  person  on 
whom  great  claims  are  made  by  his  calling  should  use 
his  free  time  as  much  as  possible  to  round  out  his  life 
harmoniously  by  activity  in  other  fields.  Xo  doubt 
many  people  reply  that  this  is  impossible;  they  have 
no  time.  But  this  is  generally  because  these  people 
are  bent  with  all  their  force  on  getting  rich  quickly 
and  prefer  the  chasing  of  dollars  to  their  true  happi- 
ness and  their  nervous  health.  But  what  do  they  get 
from  it  if  they  die  rich  and  have  brought  up  their 
children  as  useless  fops,  who  disdain  work  in  the 
prospect  of  a  great  inheritance,  overestimate  them- 
selves, and  think  that  they  are  a  bit  better  than  their 
fellowmen,  while  they  are  really  only  injurious  para- 
sites on  society  ?  I  know  that  this  is  a  mere  common- 
place, for  what  I  have  said  here  is  what  every  one  is 
saying  nowadays;  but  unfortunately  that  does  not 
prevent  people  from  practising  the  very  opposite  of 
what  they  preach.  One  should  therefore  make  it  his 
consistent  aim  to  reserve  his  evenings  and  Sundays 
and  holidays,  not  for  laziness  and  beer-drinking,  but 


320  NERVOUS  AND  MENTAL  HYGIENE 

for  cultivation  in  other  directions,  for  trips  and 
cycling  tours,  mountain  climbing,  and  the  like.  A 
beautiful  mountain  trip,  a  student  expedition  with  a 
good  many  bodily  hardships,  a  more  extended  bicycle 
tour  through  different  countries,  are  better  cures  for 
the  brain  and  nervous  system  than  the  stays  so  com- 
mon nowadays  in  '  cure ':  places  where  a  useless 
drawing-room  life  is  carried  on  with  accompaniments 
of  beer-drinking    (Kneiperei)    and  flirtation. 

For  the  rest,  I  shall  not  repeat  here  what  I  have 
already  said  in  Chapter  IX.  about  sleep  and  the 
necessarv  normal  restoration  of  the  nervous  svstem  as 
well  as  about  harmony  and  choice.  Sleep  means  rest 
for  the  brain,  and  is  indispensable  for  its  health. 

2.  The  Nervous  Hygiene  of  Women  demands 
special  consideration  because  certain  periods  of  their 
life  require  extraordinary  precautions  in  view  of  the 
special  predisposition  to  nervous  troubles  caused  by 
menstruation,  pregnancy,  confinement,  and  the  clim- 
acteric. Yet  after  all  if  a  woman  will  submit  to  work 
and  a  sound  nerve  hygiene  in  the  same  way  as  a  man 
she  will  get  through  these  periods  of  her  life  swim- 
mingly and  with  very  few  or  no  disturbances;  it  is 
only  with  psychopaths  that  a  certain  special  care  is 
necessary.  I  refer  here  to  what  has  been  said  already 
in  Chapter  X.  about  the  having  of  children ;  for  nerv- 
ous hygiene  demands  a  sufficient  time  for  recovery 
between  successive  pregnancies.  If  a  mother  brings 
her  children  up  properly  (see  Chapter  XI-)  it  will 
contribute  greatly  to  the  protection  of  their  nervous 


ADULTS  321 

health.  It  is  very  important  to  accustom  even  the 
very  small  children  to  strict  and  proper  habits  of 
sleep  and  cleanliness,  and  not  to  pamper  them.  This 
means  a  hygienic  protection  of  the  brain  for  both 
mother  and  child. 

It  is  especially  important  to  accent  the  injurious- 
ness  of  certain  kinds  of  fine  hand-work  which  over- 
strain the  attention  and  irritate  the  brain,  especially 
long-continued  sewing  and  similar  sedentary  occu- 
pations that  strain  the  mind.  The  one-sided  over- 
doing of  such  work  makes  many  women  nervous  and 
psychopathic  or  exaggerates  bad  tendencies  which  are 
already  present.  Generally  speaking  the  mental  life 
of  many  women  is  worried  out  of  them  in  the  slavery 
of  petty  housework  and  childish  vanities — deadening 
in  themselves  and  bound  up  with  all  sorts  of  cares 
and  vexations.  In  view  of  this  it  is  extremely  neces- 
sary that  a  woman's  horizon  should  be  broadened  and 
she  should  be  more  highly  educated  so  that  at  last  she 
can  free  herself  from  continually  attaching  far  too 
much  importance  to  every  little  detail  and  thus  neg- 
lecting what  is  higher  and  more  important.  Many 
mothers  become  irritable  and  quarrelsome  or  even 
directly  melancholy  and  deranged  as  a  result  of  such 
worries  and  one-sided  abuse  of  their  brains.  The 
supposed  and  often  real  disagreeableness  of  the 
mother-in-law  that  we  joke  about  so  much,  often  has 
no  other  foundation;  for  otherwise  higher  interests 
would  help  her  to  overcome  her  petty  jealousies.  But 
the  relaxation  and  change  should  not  be  found  in 


322  NERVOUS  AND  MENTAL  HYGIENE 

gossip  or  luxurious  and  frivolous  pleasures,  but  in 
vigorous  bodily  exercise,  higher  mental  cultivation, 
and  social  activity.  This  last  point  cannot  be  em- 
phasised too  much,  for  our  women  are  fearfully  dif- 
ficult to  tear  out  of  their  routine,  even  though  in 
many  cases  this  is  the  only  way  of  curing  them  of 
their  nervous  abnormalities. 

3.  The  Unmarried  and  Childless.  The  nerve 
hygiene  of  single  people,  old  maids  and  bachelors, 
widows,  widowers,  and  childless  married  people,  de- 
serves special  appreciation.  All  these  people  are 
usually  without  a  purpose  in  life.  To  some  of  them 
love  is  lacking,  to  others  only  the  family,  but  they  all 
have  this  in  common  that  they  are  stunted  by  more  or 
less  exclusively  selfish  employment  about  their  own 
selves  and  easily  become  eccentric  in  the  worse  sense 
of  the  word.  When  a  woman  has  no  children  or 
other  worthy  objects  of  attachment  and  care,  a  char- 
acteristic love  and  attachment  for  a  cat  or  a  lapdog 
often  develops  by  way  of  substitute.  This  well- 
known  phenomenon  plainly  shows  how  much  the  hu- 
man spirit,  i.  £.,  the  human  brain,  needs  something 
to  live  for.  The  false  selfishness  of  most  of  such  her- 
mits of  both  sexes  revenges  itself  on  their  own  person ; 
for  their  stunted  life  makes  them  unhappy;  and  thus 
it  is  not  altogether  wrong  to  speak  of  a  peculiar  kind 
of  madness  with  old  maids  and  bachelors.  But  when 
we  see  on  the  other  hand  what  these  same  "  solitaries  ' 
can  often  accomplish  in  magnificent  philanthropic  or 
social  works,  in  science  or  art,  when  they  replace  their 


ADULTS  323 

crotchets  by  a  high  ideal,  then  we  must  say  that  the 
cure  lies  very  close  at  hand:  work  for  an  ideal  end, 
No  unmarried  man  or  woman  should  neglect  this  if  he 
does  not  want  to  sin  against  the  hygiene  of  his  own 
brain  as  well  as  against  his  fellow-men.  In  place  of 
children  he  should  contribute  social  work  to  society 
and  thus  lend  an  aim  to  his  existence. 

There  is  a  well-known  quarrel  of  long  standing  be- 
tween the  heads  of  families  and  those  who  are  single 
or  childless;  the  former  reproaching  the  latter  with 
their  indolence  and  selfishness,  while  the  latter  reply: 
1  We  have  had  to  renounce  the  happiness  of  marriage 
or  of  children,  or  we  have  done  it  freely  for  the  sake 
of  having  our  peace;  and  now  we  mean  to  enjoy  it. 
You  are  responsible  for  your  own  troubles  if  your 
children  turn  out  badly."  Such  selfish  and  quarrel- 
some ways  of  talking  are  vain  and  injurious  to  both 
parties.  We  do  not  demand  of  the  free  and  single  that 
they  should  kindly  allow  themselves  to  be  exploited  for 
the  benefit  of  the  criminal  brood  which  bad  parents 
heedlessly  engender,  and  thus  only  increase  their 
characteristic  pessimism  and  cantankerousness.  We 
simply  ask  for  their  own  sakes  as  well  as  for  so- 
ciety at  large  that  they  shall  give  up  their  sterile 
existence  with  all  the  harm  that  it  does  to  their  own 
brain  life  in  exchange  for  appropriate  social  work  and 
the  pursuit  of  any  useful  ideal.  The  solidarity  of 
human  society  demands  it,  and  without  it  no  life- 
happiness  and  no  proper  nerve  hygiene  is  possible. 
In  Chapter  X.  we  have  seen  what  limitations  on  the 


324  NERVOUS  AND  MENTAL  HYGIENE 

one  hand  and  what  positive  duties  on  the  other  are 
laid  on  individuals  by  social  hygiene  in  the  matter  of 
having  children.  In  Chapter  XI.  we  have  stated 
the  requirements  in  the  matter  of  bringing  children 
up.  In  this  work  for  the  next  generation  the  single 
and  the  childless  should  take  part  quite  as  well  as 
those  with  plenty  of  children;  for  it  is  an  extremely 
short-sighted  and  silly  selfishness  to  try  and  care  only 
for  one's  own  progeny.  When  your  own  children 
grow  up  they  come  into  relations,  perhaps  into  mar- 
riage relations,  with  those  of  others;  for  all  society 
is  connected.  This  fundamental  fact  of  human  so- 
cial life  must  be  regarded  as  the  foundation  and 
starting  point  of  all  nerve  hygiene,  and  only  consid- 
eration for  it  can  lend  purpose  and  consequent  happi- 
ness and  satisfaction  to  the  brains  of  those  with- 
out family  responsibilities.  Here  I  should  like  to 
specially  recommend  the  system  of  the  Pestalozzi 
League  in  Vienna  which  provides  families  for  reliable 
but  childless  married  people.  Upon  payment  of  the 
expenses  they  are  given  a  limited  number  of  poor  un- 
fortunate children,  boys  and  girls  together,  who  had 
been  maltreated  or  neglected  by  their  parents,  to 
bring  up,  under  the  supervision  of  the  league.  This 
system  can  be  greatly  spread  for  the  good  of  mankind. 
4.  Nervous  Hygiene  of  Old  Age.  The  modern 
man  wears  himself  out  in  restless  earning  in  order 
that  he  shall  be  able  to  rest  in  old  age.  But  when  the 
man  who  has  worked  all  the  time  gets  old  he  discovers 
that  without  work  he  can  no  longer  exist.     Only  the 


ADULTS  325 

idler  and  the  pleasure-seeker  who  has  squandered  his 
life  becomes  even  lazier  than  ever  in  his  old  age  (if 
that  is  possible),  because  he  has  never  exercised  his 
neurones.  If  any  one  wants  as  happy  an  old  age  as 
possible,  he  must  first  of  all  never  betray  his  optim- 
ism; second,  never  brood  over  the  past  and  the  dead; 
third,  work  away  to  the  last  breath,  to  keep  as  much 
of  his  cerebral  elasticity  as  possible.  The  pessim- 
istic, peevish  discontent  of  so  many  selfish  old  men 
and  women  usually  rests  (when  it  is  not  pathological) 
on  their  inactivity.  They  want  to  sit  down  in  peace, 
and  instead  of  peace  find  discontent  with  the 
world  and  themselves.  The  quarrelsome  grand- 
mothers and  mothers-in-law  as  well  as  the  tyrannical 
old  men  who  demand  everything  and  do  nothing,  may 
trace  their  bad  peculiarities,  so  far  as  they  are  ac- 
quired and  not  inherited,  partly  to  changes  in  the 
brain  that  come  on  with  age,  but  partly,  as  we  have 
seen,  to  a  petty,  selfish  stunting  of  their  spirit  and 
to  the  lack  of  an  ideal  end  in  life.  They  busy  them- 
selves in  blaming  and  tormenting  their  children, 
grandchildren,  children-in-law,  and  nephews,  instead 
of  using  what  is  left  of  their  powers  in  useful  work. 
But  the  old  man  whose  brain  is  still  sound  and  who 
is  not  ashamed  to  keep  on  thinking  and  working 
rejoices,  even  in  the  evening  of  his  life,  in  the 
world  and  people  and  the  happiness  of  youth,  and 
enjoys  love  and  consideration,  instead  of  being  the 
object  of  aversion  or  ridicule.  To  be  sure,  when  senile 
weakness  sets  in  it  often  brings  with  it  a  morbid 


326  NERVOUS  AND  MENTAL  HYGIENE 

vanity,  and  then  the  old  man  runs  the  risk  of  damag- 
ing his  former  reputation  by  inferior  efforts.  If  he 
is  sick  and  injudicious,  one  must  take  the  necessary 
steps  to  protect  him  against  himself,  as  is  proper 
with  one  suffering  from  senile  mental  weakness. 
But  if  his  brain  is  not  ruined  by  alcohol  and  he  is  still 
capable  of  clear  enough  deliberation,  he  ought  to  be 
induced  to  exert  himself  in  some  way  that  can  do  no 
harm.  If  he  is  modest,  he  will  find  enough  of  such 
employments.  For  the  reasons  just  named,  a  con- 
sistent muscular  activity,  so  far  as  it  is  possible,  is 
also  to  be  strongly  recommended  to  old  people. 

5.  Nervous  Hygiene  for  Psychopaths  or  Neuro- 
paths. By  these  we  mean  those  who  belong  more 
or  less  to  the  second  group  of  Chapter  VII.  Their 
hygiene  has  already  been  discussed  in  a  general  way 
at  the  conclusion  of  Chapter  IX.  As  we  saw,  there 
is  no  sharp  line  to  be  drawn  between  members  of  these 
groups  and  those  whose  central  nervous  system  func- 
tions normally.  It  is  often  a  mere  matter  of  weak- 
ness, of  inferiority,  of  too  strong  or  too  weak 
sensibility,  of  the  tendency  to  lose  heart,  to  premature 
exhaustion  or  fatigue,  to  pains  and  paresthesias,  or 
even  to  cramps,  passionate  outbreaks,  impulsive  acts, 
and  the  like.  Slighter  disturbances  of  this  sort  are 
so  numerous  that  they  are  to  be  found  in  almost  every 
human  life ;  and  thus  it  is  difficult  to  draw  a  line  here 
between  hygiene  and  medicine.  For  conditions  like 
these  we  can  use  the  term  "  nerve  fidgets  '  (Nerven- 
zappel)  in  the  purely  popular  sense;  often,  however, 


ADULTS  327 

things  are  reversed  and  it  is  a  question  of  a  paralysis 
or  inhibition  of  the  neurokym — of  a  "  nerve  laziness." 

The  facts  already  enumerated  (in  Chapter  VIII.) 
as  to  the  causes  of  the  degeneration  of  civilised  peo- 
ples on  the  one  side,  and  the  ever-increasing  demands 
on  the  human  brain  (see  Chapter  V.,  Race  History), 
which  are  always  mercilessly  exposing  every  inferi- 
ority, on  the  other,  have  created  a  social  condition 
bordering  on  the  intolerable.  We  have  seen  that  the 
normal,  phylogenetic  side  of  this  condition  is  to  be 
traced  back  to  the  fact  that  our  brain  organisation 
can  by  no  means  follow  the  frantic  progress  of  cul- 
ture. No  wonder  if  two  such  powerful  factors  (de- 
terioration of  the  brain  and  increasing  demands  upon 
it)  produce  a  frequent  failure  of  brain  powers!  I 
believe  we  can  trace  back  nervous  fidgets  and  all  con- 
stitutional psychopathias  to  a  manifold  combination 
of  inherited  deteriorations  with  the  higher  demands 
made  upon  the  brain.  How  the  causes  of  deteriora- 
tion are  to  be  combated  we  have  seen  already.  But 
what  is  nervous  hygiene  to  do  for  these  nervous  fidgets 
when  they  are  already  present? 

In  order  to  get  in  proper  touch  with  our  question, 
which  is  truly  one  of  the  most,  if  not  the  most,  im- 
portant of  immediate  nerve  hygiene,  we  must  bear 
in  mind  what  has  just  been  said,  as  well  as  our  phylo- 
geny  or  race  history,  and  picture  to  ourselves  the 
original  conditions  of  life  of  a  brain  not  yet  degener- 
ated, and  above  all  not  yet  overworked  and  over- 
driven, as  it  was  phylogenetically  developed  through 


328  NERVOUS  AND  MENTAL  HYGIENE 

natural  selection  in  the  struggle  for  existence.  In 
other  words,  we  must  place  before  our  eyes  the  primi- 
tive man  in  the  primeval  forest,  as,  warring  with 
wild  beasts  and  other  primitive  men  and  constantly 
threatened  by  the  elements,  he  was  forced  to  fight 
every  day  for  his  life.  To  this  end  not  only  did  his 
senses  and  his  muscles  have  to  be  capitally  developed 
(as  we  still  find  with  savage  peoples),  but  his  brain 
had  to  be  adapted  for  quick,  agile  movements,  and 
the  most  perfect  muscular  innervation,  as  well  as  for 
a  constant  strained  attention  of  the  senses,  and  the 
combination  of  both.  Now  the  history  of  the  race 
and  of  the  germ  proves  most  indubitably  that  that 
primitive  man  still  lives  deeply  lodged  in  our  brains. 
There  is  nothing  astonishing  in  this.  To  us  short- 
lived people  that  prehistoric  condition  may  well  ap- 
pear to  be  endlessly  far  back;  yet  for  phylogenetic 
development  the  whole  duration  of  our  culture  or 
world  history,  which  separates  the  modern  from  the 
primitive  man,  means  only  a  relatively  short  span  of 
time  hardly  worth  considering  in  comparison  with 
the  immense  periods  required  (even  on  the  theory 
of  sudden  mutations)  for  the  phylogenetic  or  evolu- 
tionary transformation  of  one  species  of  animal  into 
another  or  the  brain  of  a  pithecanthrope  into  that  of 
a  man.  But  now  psychopathic  people  in  the  main 
display  a  set  of  brain  reactions  which  are  insufficient 
or  break  down  in  face  of  the  increased  demands  of 
culture. 

From  these  considerations  there  follows  an  impera- 


ADULTS  329 

tive  requirement  for  the  hygiene  of  psychopaths, — 
the  return  to  a  simpler  mode  of  life,  as  similar  as  pos- 
sible to  that  of  primitive  man.  To  be  sure  it  can  be 
objected  that  this  is  only  a  theoretical  hypothesis, 
however  probable  it  may  sound.  To  which  we  sim- 
ply reply  that  practice  confirms  the  supposition 
completely. 

An  immense  field  for  experiment  is  afforded  by  the 
lunatic  asylums,  and  experience  has  shown  that  agri- 
cultural labour  and  similar  bodily  activities  have 
excellent  curative  effects  for  psychopaths  and  the 
chronically  insane.  We  can  even  say  it  is  the  only 
thing  that  improves  them  and  that  in  not  a  few  cases 
it  actually  cures.  We  have  already  mentioned  (in 
Chapter  IX.)  Herr  Grohmann's  employment  institu- 
tion for  those  with  nervous  diseases ;  and  we  have  also 
become  acquainted  with  the  admirable  results  of  the 
country  training-homes.  All  these  things  confirm 
our  thesis. 

Obviously  it  is  no  longer  possible  for  us  nowadays 
to  bring  back  the  struggle  for  existence  in  the  forest 
primeval,  and  we  have  already  said  that  it  would  not 
be  worth  the  effort;  for  the  disadvantages  of  such  a 
state  far  outweigh  the  advantages,  and  this  is  not 
necessary  for  the  psychopath.  It  is  sufficient  to 
simplify  his  life  as  much  as  possible  under  the  condi- 
tions that  now  obtain  and  to  point  out  to  him  em- 
ployments which  depend  upon  sensory  activities  of 
the  attention  combined  with  muscular  force.  To 
this  end  we  can  even  make  use  of  the  most  modern 


33o  NERVOUS  AND  MENTAL  HYGIENE 

means,  especially  the  bicycle,  which  is  admirably 
adapted  to  it,  since  its  use  necessitates  a  constant  at- 
tention and  an  exact  co-ordination  of  movements. 
And  the  result  is  not  lacking;  the  bicycle  is  an  ad- 
mirable remedy  for  psychopaths.  The  same  is  true 
of  wood-chopping,  agriculture,  gardening,  riding, 
hunting,  and  the  like.  These  employments  are  ex- 
traordinarily well  adapted  to  remove  pathological 
storms  or  paralyses  of  neurokym,  headaches,  stomach- 
aches, constipations,  hysterical  attacks,  and  other 
such  nervous  fidgets,  by  turning  the  neurokym  into 
the  paths  of  a  vigorous,  healthy,  normal  brain  work. 
Appetite,  sleep,  and  cheerfulness  again  return. 

To  be  sure,  the  law  of  training  must  be  followed 
here  with  double  carefulness.  In  cases  of  serious  ex- 
haustion and  severe  pains  other  means,  and  especially 
hypnotic  suggestion,  must  be  used  at  first,  and  we 
must  proceed  extremely  slowly  and  patiently  and 
consistently  to  bring  the  neurokym  on  the  right  track 
and  to  keep  it  there  through  exercise  and  habit. 

Evidently  it  makes  a  vast  amount  of  difference 
whether  we  have  to  do  with  a  mild  transitory  case  of 
nervous  fidgets  or  with  one  that  is  deeply  chronic. 
With  the  former  a  short  vacation  "  cure  "  with  a  few 
primitive-man  exercises  will  remove  the  trouble,  and 
its  return  in  the  future  will  be  prevented  by  slight 
corrections  in  one's  mode  of  life,  especially  by  going 
to  bed  early,  giving  up  any  alcoholic  indulgences,  and 
working  somewhat  more  physically  and  less  mentally. 
In  the  case  of  deeper,  more  lasting  psychopathies,  on 


ADULTS  331 

the  contrary,  the  whole  mode  of  life  and  the  calling 
must  be  changed  for  ever.  But  it  is  exceedingly 
important  not  to  enter  upon  all  these  regulations  ac- 
cording to  a  fixed  program.  Every  separate  case  de- 
mands special  treatment  and  it  would  be  absurd  to 
try  and  lead  back  all  the  psychopaths  together  to  a 
sort  of  gorilla  life.  We  have  even  seen  how  a  positive 
cure  can  be  brought  about,  especially  in  the  case  of 
hysteria,  by  the  vision  (engendered  and  fixed  by 
suggestion)  of  a  beautiful  ideal  in  life  which  can  be 
fulfilled  through  definite  and  perhaps  even  intense 
mental  work.  Such  cases,  even  though  they  do  be- 
long to  medicine,  give  a  highly  important  hint  for 
nervous  hygiene  in  general.  And  this  hint  agrees 
completely  with  what  we  have  said  about  the  necessity 
of  an  ideal  and  the  regimen  of  the  country  training- 
homes.  While  a  simple  return  to  the  most  primitive 
work  of  farm  or  garden  is  indicated  in  the  case  of 
psychopaths  who  are  generally  inferior;  with  those, 
on  the  other  hand,  who  are  only  inferior  and  "  fid- 
gety "  in  one  direction  and  perhaps  superior  or  even 
gifted  in  other  directions — for,  as  we  know,  genius  is 
often  bound  up  with  pathological  phenomena — we 
must  deal  quite  differently.  In  such  a  case  we  might 
very  well  recommend  a  mixed  mode  of  life,  in  which 
the  one-sided  gift  is  placed  with  proper  precautions, 
but  yet  consistently,  in  the  service  of  some  ideal  and 
thus  further  developed,  while  on  the  other  hand  a 
more  or  less  intense  training  in  bodily  exercises,  tech- 
nical  dexterities,   mountain-climbing,    cycling,    agri- 


332  NERVOUS  AND  MENTAL  HYGIENE 

culture,    or    the    like,    is    prescribed    by    way    of 
"  medicine." 

It  was  formerly  a  general  rule  to  treat  nervous 
troubles  with  rest  and  narcotics.  The  latter,  as  we 
have  seen,  are  to  be  condemned.  The  rest,  even  a 
long  rest  in  bed  combined  with  overnutrition — the 
so-called  "bed  and  stuffing  cure  '  (Bettmastkur)  — 
can  undoubtedly  be  recommended  without  qualifica- 
tion in  conditions  of  exhaustion  or  acute  mental  dis- 
ease. But  its  undue  prolongation  or  its  use  in  the 
wrong  case  has  the  worst  effects;  which  do  not  need 
to  be  gone  into  again  after  what  has  been  said  already. 

General  hygiene  demands  a  sound  mind  in  a  sound 
body.  But  the  hygiene  of  the  mind  and  nervous  sys- 
tem demands  somewhat  more.  It  often  finds  our 
brain  confronted  with  the  alternative  "  culture  with 
deterioration  or  health  without  culture  " ;  and  in  the 
irrepressible  upward  striving  of  superior  people  to- 
wards ideals  of  knowledge  and  feeling,  the  task  often 
falls  to  it  of  bringing  cultural  development  and  health 
of  brain  into  harmony.  May  this  little  book  contri- 
bute its  part  to  further  the  reforms  in  our  mode  of 
life  which  are  so  necessary  to  this  end! 


APPENDIX 

REQUIREMENTS  FOR  PUBLIC  OR  SOCIAL  NERVE  HYGIENE 

IN  this  little  book,  intended  principally  for  the  laity, 
there  can  be  no  question  of  making  definite 
proposals  for  the  building  of  lunatic  asylums,  nerve 
Sanatoriums,  and  the  like.  Only  a  few  general  re- 
quirements whose  fulfilment  seems  to  me  very  desir- 
able can  be  stated  here  as  briefly  as  possible: 

1.  The  extension  of  the  fundamental  principles  of 
the  country  training-homes  to  all  schools. 

2.  For  the  suitable  and  appropriate  care  of  habit- 
ual criminals,  vagrants,  incurable  alcoholics,  etc., 
and  to  make  them  permanently  uninjurious,  special 
agricultural  establishments  with  workshops  and  com- 
pulsory work  should  be  established.  These  should 
consist  of  different  pavilions  for  the  various  different 
purposes  and  should  be  placed  under  the  direction  of 
an  alienist  and  under  legal  supervision.  From  these 
institutions  alcohol  and  all  narcotics  should  be  ban- 
ished.1 Institutions  of  this  sort  for  the  permanent 
care  of  individuals  of  diminished  responsibility  who 

1  See  Forel :  La  question  des  asiles  pour  alcoolises  incurables,  VII 
Congres  international  contre  Vabus  des  boissons  alcooliques,  1899,  tome 
II,  page  92,  Paris,  5  Rue  de  Latran  ;  also  Revue  medicale  de  la  Suisse  ro- 
mande,  aoüt  1899,  Geneve,  Georg ;  and  Forel  et  Mahaim  :  Crimes  et 
anomalies  mentales  constitutionelles,  Geneve,  Kündig,  1902. 

333 


334  NERVOUS  AND  MENTAL  HYGIENE 

are  at  the  same  time  very  injurious  or  dangerous  to 
the  community  should  be  provided  for  by  law. 

3.  The  alcoholising  and  degeneration  of  society 
caused  by  our  drinking  customs  should  be  combated 
by  a  progressive  promotion  of  total  abstinence.  Ex- 
perience has  shown  that  the  most  effective  measure  is 
local  option,  by  which  an  electoral  majority  of  the 
adult  men  and  women  of  a  community  has  the  right 
to  prohibit  the  sale  of  alcoholic  beverages  within  its 
boundaries.  Further,  the  forbidding  of  the  sale  of 
spirituous  liquors  on  Sundays  and  holidays  and  late 
in  the  evening,  and  the  restriction  of  the  number  of 
saloons.  Moreover  anti-alcoholic  instruction  should 
be  introduced  in  all  the  schools,  temperance  restau- 
rants should  be  established  as  generally  as  possible, 
alcoholic  drinks  as  a  means  of  enjoyment  should  be 
removed  from  all  State  and  municipal  buildings,  and 
temperance  societies  should  be  energetically  sup- 
ported in  their  work  and  development. 

In  the  same  way  and  with  the  same  energy  the  in- 
troduction of  other  narcotics,  which  are  injurious  to 
individuals  and  society  at  large,  must  be  combated 
so  far  as  they  are  used  merely  as  means  of  enjoy- 
ment, especially  opium,  morphia,  Indian  hemp,  ether, 
and  cocaine.  We  should  also  combat  the  tobacco 
habit,  although  tobacco  is  relatively  harmless  as  com- 
pared with  these  other  poisons. 

4.  Nerve  Sanatoriums  are  to  be  reformed  by  the 
introduction  of  occupations  for  which  the  patients  are 
systematically  trained  as  a  therapeutic  measure,  and 


APPENDIX  335 

by  the  removal  of  alcoholic  drinks.  The  same  should 
be  done  with  lunatic  asylums  so  far  as  it  has  not 
been  done  already. 

5.  Moreover,  separate  employment  colonies  should 
be  established  in  the  country  for  people  with  nervous 
troubles. 

6.  A  much  more  thorough  study  of  the  question 
of  human  reproduction  is  to  be  striven  for,  in  con- 
nection with  a  rational  neo-Malthusianism,  directed, 
not  to  the  rooting  out  but  to  the  improvement  of  the 
race. 

7.  The  reform  of  the  dwellings,  food,  and  un- 
healthy modes  of  life  of  a  depraved  proletariat 
belongs  to  general  hygiene  and  needs  only  to  be  men- 
tioned here. 

Those  who  are  interested  in  the  last  questions  (in 
7)  are  referred  to  the  other  volumes  of  the  Bibliothek 
der  Gesundheitspflege j1  in  which  they  are  popularly 
treated  from  a  scientific  standpoint. 

1  Published  by  Ernst  Heinrich  Moritz  in  Stuttgart. 


INDEX. 


Abbotsholme,  294,  297 
Abnormal  modes  of  life,  216 
Abstinence  societies,  241  ff 
Abstract  ideas,  9,  30 

not  for  children,  119 

— — in  education,  286 
Abulia,  156,  170,  174 
Acquired  diseases,  186 
Acute  vs.  chronic  diseases,  163 
Adaptation  or  education,  121 
Adults,  310  ff 
Esthetic  feeling,  34 
Affekt,  eingeklemmter,  221 
Agriculture  for  the  insane,  329 
Alcohol,  230  ff,  239  f ,  248,  334 

a  poison,  195  ff 

and  epilepsy,  188 

and  the  germ  cell  or  embryo, 

210  ff,  279,  284 
— ■ — and  senility,  203 
Alcoholism  and  heredity,  206  ff 
Alienists,  272 
Alternating  moods,  155 
Altruism,  pathological,  177. 
Amnesia,  functional,  154 

See  also  Forgetting 
Anaesthesia,  147 
Analogy  in  judgment,  18 
Angst,  155 

Animal  communities,  131 
Anoia,  congenital,  166  ff 
"Ants  and  Some  Other  Insects," 

98  n. 
"Anxiety,"  188 
Apathy,  50,  51 
Apathy  and  indifference,  156 
Apoplexy,  200 

Arrested  development,  165  ff 
Articulation,  40 
Asceticism,  246 

22  337 


Assimilation,  24 
Association,  of  ideas,  6 

and  association  fibres,  62 

Associational  disturbances,  151-2 
Asthenia,  67,  143,  170,  175,  178, 

181,  202 
Asylums,  333  ff 
Atavism,  122,  208 
Ataxia,  motor,  161 

See  also  Locomotor  ataxia 
Attention,  25  ff 
Automatic  centres,  62,  63 
Automatisms,  inherited,  90  ff 

as  combined  reflexes,  91 

secondary,  98 

Autosuggestion,  36,  158 

See  also  Suggestion 
Azam, 154 

Bach,  W.,  iv 
Bahnung,  93,  185 
Beklemmttng,  155 
Bethe,  50,  51 
Bettmastkur,  332 
Bezzola,  212 
Bieberstein,  Schloss,  303 
Biolley,  W.,  305 
Blastophthoria,  124,  210 
Blindness,  congenital,  171 
Blödsinn,  168 
Blood  supply,  246 
Blood-vessels,  203 
Brain.     See  Cerebrum 
"Brain  and  Mind,"  iii 
Brain  storm,  187 
Brainless  children,  94 

pigeons,  etc.,  91,  92,  93  ff 

Bridgeman,  Laura,  164 

Broca,  41 

von  Bunge,  87,  213,  239,  284 


33% 


INDEX 


von  Buttel-Reepen,  98 

Candolle,  A.  de,  209 

Catatonia,  189 

Causation,  law  of,  in  judgment,  17 

Centripetal  and  centrifugal,  17,  86 

Cerebral,  excisions,  93  ff 

functions,      localisation      of, 

58  ff 

Cerebrum,  anatomy  of,  56  ff 

weight  of,  63,  64 

vs.  lower  centres,  92  ff 

as  organ  of  adaptation,  96  ff 

developed      from      olfactory 

centres,  106-7 
Change,  value  of,  257 
Cheerfulness,  316  ff 
Child  development,  115 
Childless,  the,  322  ff 
Chorea,  162 

Chronic  vs.  acute  diseases,  162 
Circular  insanity,  182-3 
Colligation  of  images,  24  n. 
Conscience,  exaggerated,  177 
Consciousness,  in  individual  cells, 

etc.,  76 
not    confined    to    cerebrum, 

93  ff 
-double,  154 


Conservation  of  energy  vs.  dual- 
ism, 77,  82 
Constitutional  diseases,  163,  176 
Contagion,  psychic,  222 
Co-ordinational  disturbances,  161 
Country  training  homes,  288  ff 

for  girls,  302 

Cramps,  160 
Cretinism,  166  ff 
Crimes,  pathological,  228 
Criminals,  born,  174,  214,  229 

habitual,  280 

Culture,  one-sided,  225 
Cunning  in  the  insane,  156 

Darwin,  127,  132 

"Darwinism,"  ambiguous,  134 

Deaf  and  dumb,  171 

Debility,  166 

Deception  in  memory,  23,  24 

Deduction  and  induction,  18  ff 

Delbrück,  215 

Delusions,  149 

Dementia,  paranoides,  189 


praecox,  189 

processes,  acquired,  189 

senile,  203 

Demme,  211 
Desequilibres,  178 
Developmental,  diseases,  163,  165, 

ff 

weaknesses,  175 

Diabetes,  201 

Discipline,  school,  291,  296 

Dissociation,  of  images,  24,  27 

in  suggestion,  35 

accounts  for  "unconscious" 

acts,  72-3 

— and  subconsciousness,  77 
-functional  and  organic,  152— 3, 


203 

See  also  Hysteria 
Distraction,  26 
Dreams,  74,  249 
Dualism,  76,  81 
Dubois,  128 
Dyspepsia,  224 

"Ecphory,"  88,  135  ff 
Education,  284  ff 

as  adaptation,  121 

and  heredity,  286 

of  women,  321 

Eingeklemmter  Affekt,  221 

Embolism,  200 

Embryology   of  nervous  system, 

m# 

Emotional  wounds,  218  ff 
See  also  Traumatic  neuroses 

Emotions,   cause   psychoses,   218, 
223.  224 

strangulated,  221 

healthy,  254 

"Engram,"  88,  135  / 

Epidemics,  nervous,  223 

Epilepsie  larvee,  187 

Epilepsy,  187,  207 

psychic,  154 

■ — ■ — masked,  187 

Equilibrium,  sense  of,  105 

Erinnerungsfälschung,  150 

Erinnerungstäuschung,  151 

Erinnerungsverfälschung,  151 

Ethics,  basis  of,  31  ff 

Examinations,  121,  293 

Exercise,  for  brain,  117 

law  of,  308 


INDEX 


339 


See  also  Training  and  Work 
Exhaustion,  202 
Exner,  93 

Family  life,  303  ff 
Fechner, 78 
Feeble-mindedness 

See  Imbecility 
Feeling,  sphere  of,  11 

See  also  Emotion 
Ferriere,  299 
"Fidgets,"  nerve,  326 
Fleischmann,  133  n. 
Flourens,  93,  95 
Folie  ä  deux,  223 
Food  and  poison,  191  ff 
Forgetting,  245 

a  case  of  dissociation,  73 

Frei,  W.,  289  n.,  300 
Freud,  221 
Frey,  108 
Fühner,  H.,  213 
Functional    nervous    complaints, 
vexatious,  159 

See  also  Organic 
Fusion  of  images,  24,  25  n. 

Gall,  99 
Galton,  210  n. 
Gedankenablauf ,  151 
Gedankenflucht,  155,  188 
Germ  cell,  diseases  of,  124 

poisoning  of,  195  ff,  210  ff 

Girls,  education  of,  302,  310  ff 

Glarisegg,  Schloss,  289,  300  ff 

Goitre,  166 

Golgi,  cells  of,  58 

Goltz,  68,  93  ff,  129 

Gout,  201 

Grohmann,  A.,  270,  329 

Groos,  34 

von  Gudden,  56,  57 

Habit,  243  ff 

as  secondary  automatism,  98 

See  also  Training 
Haeckel,  127 

Hallucinations,  8,  147-8,  221 
Hardening  process,  264 

See  also  Training 
Harmonious  development,  251  ff 
Harrison,  R.  G.,  51 
Haubinda,  290,  297  ff 


Hearing,  sense  of,  105 
Heart,  dilatation  of,  247 
Hebephrenia,  189 
Hecker,  189 
Helenius,  M.,  242 
Heredity 

See  Inheritance 
Hering,  88,  134 
Hodge,  211,  248 
Höffding,  42,  78 
' '  Homophony , "  136 
Hoppe,  242 
Hub  er,  P.,  97 
Hydrocephalus,  168 
Hyperesthesia,  147,  158,  202 
Hypnotism,  72,  155,  249,  308,  330 
— - — as  suggestion,  36 
Hypoaesthesia,  147 
Hypochondria,    67,     180-1,    202, 

268,  318 
Hypocrites,  178 
Hysteria,  184,  202,  221 
as  dissociation,  37 

Ideal,  value  of,  269,  312-3,  322  ff, 
331 

"  Identity"  hypothesis,  iii,  73-4 
Idiocy:  166  ff 

and  heredity,  206  ff 

Idiosyncracies,  181 
Illusions,  8,  148 

of  memory,  150-1 

Ilsenburg,  295  ff 
Imagination,  28  ff 
Imbecility,  166,  172 

of  feeling,  173 

of  will,  174 

effects  of,  177 

ethical,  214 

Imitation,  223 

Imperative  ideas,  150,  152 

Impulsiveness,  156,  170 

Incoherence,  152 

Increase  of  nervous  disease,  228 

Infections,  198  ff,  216 

mental,  307 

Inference,  17 

Influenza,  198 

Inheritance,    111    ff,   122    ff,   176, 

202,  205  ff,  217,   224,  243,  251, 

274,  335 

and  education,  126.  255,  286 

and  humanitarianism,  229 


340 


INDEX 


Inheritance — Continued. 

improper,  210 

Inhibition,  93 

Insistent  ideas,  152,  162,  181 

Instinct,  34,  96 

as  inherited  automatism,  90 

delayed,  vs.  learning,  115 

Institutions      for       psychopaths, 

etc.,  333 
Intelligence,  27,  28 
Involution,  203 

See  also  Senility 
Irritable  weakness 

See  Asthenia 

James,  Wm.,  42  n. 
Judgment,  17 

Kahlbaum.  189 
Keller,  Helen,  164 
Knee  jerk 

See  Patellar  reflex 
Koch,  176 
Koller,  J.,  206 
Korsakow's  psychosis,  195 
Kraepelin,    148,    151,    166,    188, 

189 
Krafft-Ebing,  311 
Krause,  end  bulbs  of,  108 
Kussmaul,  115 

Laitinen,  211 
Landerziehungsheim,  288  ff 
Language,  37  ff 
Lannelogue, 167 
Lead  poisoning,  198 
Learning,  245 
Leidenschaft,  35 
Leisure,  use  of,  317 

See  also  Sunday 
Leprosy,  142,  199,  200 
Lethargy,  161 
Liars,  imaginative,  183 
Lietz,  294  ff 
Lissauer,  zone  of,  89 
Localisation  of  functions,  99 
Locomotor  ataxy,  162,  199 
Lombemelle,  211 
Lombroso,  214 
Love,  314 
Lower  centres  as  seats  of  impulses, 

128 
Lubbock, 98 


Mach,  C,  42,  55,  106 

Machine  work,  118 

Macnish,  154 

Malaria,  198 

Mania,  151,  155,  156 

Maniacal  depressive  insanity,  188 

Manisch-depressives  Irresein,  188 

Marriage    of    the    affected,    277, 

311  n.,  314 
Medicines,  309 
Meissner,  corpuscles  of,  108 
Melancholia,  151,  155 
Memory,  6,  8,  21  ff 

in  lower  animals,  97-8 

deceptions  of,  150 

disturbances  of,  154 

strengthening,  287 

"Mental  Power  of  Ants,"  iii,  98  n. 
Mental,  vision,  105 

vs.  nervous  diseases,  141  ff 

Mercier,  C,  64 
Metabolic  diseases,  201 
Meynert,  57 
Microcephaly,  167 
Micro-organisms,  216 
Mind,  what?  5 

and  brain,  66  ff 

"Miracles"  due  to  suggestion,  110 

"Mnema,"  87  n.,  135 

Moebius,  P.  J.,  270 

Monism,  iii,  73-4 

"Monism  and  Psychology,"  iii 

Monomania,  252 

Moods,  pathological,  155,  182 

Morality,  basis  of,  31  ff 

Morphia 

See  Narcotics 
Movement  in  perception,  15 
Mühlemann,  228 
Müller,  J.,  100 
Munk,  95 
Muscular,  contractions,  84 

sense,  108 

Myxcedema,  166,  201 

Naef.  155 

Nansen,  247 

Narcotics,  194  ff,  214,  239  ff,  250, 

332   334 
"Natural,"  and  "Artificial,"  257  ff 

therapeutics,  258,  309 

selection,  132,  274  ff 


INDEX 


341 


Naturhcilkunde ,  258 
Neanderthal  skull,  127-8 
Neovitalism,  137 
Nerve  current 

See  Neurokym 
Nervenzappel,  326 
Nervous  diseases,  classification  of, 

143  ff 

local  and  diffuse,  144 

organic  and  functional,  145-6 

which  are  not  mental,  157 

Nervous  system,  anatomy  of,  43 

physiology  of,  84  ff 

"Nervousness,"  143 

in  women,  321 

Neuralgia,  158 
Neurasthenia 

See  Asthenia 
Neuritis,  158 
Neurokym,  and  consciousness,  70 

nature  of,  85  ff 

storm,  187,  218 

Neurones,  anatomy  of,  45  ff 

number  of,  51 

not  regenerated,  53 

— distribution  of,  53  ff 
-outside  of  cerebro-spinal  sys- 


tem, 109 
Neuropaths,  326 
Neuroses,  functional,  190 

traumatic,  217  ff 

Night  work,  225,  250 

"Objective,"  knowledge,  69 

and  "subjective,"  78 

One-sided  education 
See  specialization 
Ontogenetic  diseases,  163,  165  // 
Ontogeny  of  nervous  system,  111 

ff 
Overexertion,  244,  247 
Over-pressure  in   education,  120 
Overwork,  312  n. 

Paresthesia,  147 

Parallelism.  80 

Paralysis  of  the  brain,  154,   155, 

199,  216 
Paramnesia,  151 
Paranoia,  188,  189 
Passions,  35 

See  also  Emotions 
Patellar  reflex,  89 


Pathology  of  the  nervous  system, 

141  ff 
Pearson,  210  n. 
Pellagra,  199 
Perception,  7 

Personality,  alterations  of,  157 
Pessimism  of  the  old,  325 
Pestalozzi,  288,  289,  292,  294 
Petersenn,  Frau  v.,  302 
Pflüger, 95 
Phobias,  181 
Phylogenv,  127  ff,  327 
Physicians,  dishonest,  259, 272, 3'. 9 
Piepers,  133  n. 
Plasticity  of  nervous  system,  97 
Pleasure-seeking,  265 
Poisoning,  191  ff,  216 
Porencephaly,  167 
Pregnancy,  284 
Preyer, 115 

Primitive  man,  129,   130,  328 
Psychasthenia 

See  Asthenia 
Psychopaths,  176,  268  ff,  326  ff 
Psychoses,  of  childhood,  175 

functional,  188 

Psychotherapeutics,  186 
Punishments,  school,  291,  296 
Pyramidal  tract,  58 

Quality  in  sensations,  10 
Querulants,  188 

Race  history, 

See  Ontogeny 
Radolfzell,  302 
Reason,  30  / 
Recall,  22 

Recapitulation,  111-2 
Recognition  in  memory,  23 
Reddie,  294 
Reflex,  88  ff 

co-ordinated,  90 

false  perception,  148 

Regrets,  317 
Reinke,  137 
Representation,  7 
Rousseau,  288,  289,  294 

Schools,  288  ff 
Schopenhauer, 130 
Schwann,  sheath  of,  50,  51 


342 


INDEX 


Selection,  natural    and    artificial, 

132,  274  ff 
Semi-circular  canals,  55 
Semon,  R.,  87,  88,  135  ff 
Senescence,  324  ff 
Senility,  203,  325 
Sensation,  disturbances  of,  147 
Senses,  physiology  ol,  100  ff 
Sewing,  321 
Sexual,  abnormalities,  178  ff,  196, 

203,  307 

lite,  226 

Sight,  sense  of,  104 
Simple  life,  271,  308,  329 
Skin  senses,  107 
Sleep,  225,  248  ff 
— — localised,  249 
Sleeplessness,  250-1 
Smell,  sense  of,  106 

topochemical,  103 

Social  hygiene,  236,  333 
Softening  of  brain,  200 

See  also  Paralysis 
Solitude,  225 
Somnambulism,  72,  74 
Space-perception,  11,  102 
Specialisation,  252,  310 
Specific  energy,  of  the  senses,  100 

ff 

a  cerebral  phenomenon,  102 

Speech,  analysis  of,  39 

centres,  41,  60  ff 

effects  on  brain,  100 

Spencer,  H.,  24 

Spinal  ganglia,  55 

Spinoza,  78 

Split-off  consciousness,  73,  76 

See  also  Dissociation 
Steiner,  I.,  92,  95 

Stereotypia,  151 
Stolpersee,  302 
Subconscious,  judgments,  19 

associations,  153 

and  superconscious,  74  ff 

Suggestion,  35  ff,  186,  218  ff,  260 

some  effects  of,  110 

Suicide,  228 

Sunday  occupations,  256,  319 

See  also  Leisure 
Swindlers,  pathological,  183 
Sympathetic  system,  54,  159 
Sympathy,  32 


Syphilis,  198-9,  214,  216 

Tabes  dorsalis,  162,  199 

Taste,  sense  of,  107 

Tea  and  coffee,  197,  250 
See  also  Narcotics 

Templars,  241  n. 

Thorndike,  E.  L.,  25  n.,  210  n. 

Time-perception,  11,  102 

Tobacco,  197 

See  also  Narcotics 

Toxins,  191  ff 

Training,  law  of,  118,  243  ff,  308 

Traumatic  neuroses  and  psycho- 
ses, 217  ff,  306 

Tremors,  162 

Trugwar  nehmung,  148 

Tuberculosis,  213,  214 

Tumour,  200-1 

Türck,  56 

Typhoid,  198 

"Unconscious"  brain  action,  71  ff 
Understanding  of  language,  40 
Unmarried,  the,  322  ff 
Uraemia,  201 

Vater,  corpuscles  of,  108 
Verblödungsprozesse,  189 
Verrücktheit,  188,  189 
Verwirrtheit,  152-3 
Vogt,  O.,  12,  72 
Volkmann, 95 
Voluntary  conduct,  97 
Vorstellung,  7  n. 
de  Vries,  133,  137,  138 

Wahn,  149 
Wahnglaube,  150 
Waller,  56 
Wasmann,  98 
Weismann,  136 
Wernicke,  41 
Will,  sphere  of,  13 

strength  of,  16 

disturbances  of,  156 

in  idiocy  and  imbecility,  170, 

174 
— — education  of,  288 
Willensaufregung,  188 
Winecke,  297 
Wolfring,  Lydia  v.,  304 
Women,  special  dangers  for,  215 
physical  work  for,  267 


INDEX 


343 


special  rules  for,  320 

education  of,  321 

Woods,  210  n. 

Word-deafness,  62 

Work,  physical,  326,  329.  330 

value  of,  268,  323,  325 

Wundt,  12,  24 

Yersin,  95 


Ziegler,  H.  E.,  213 

Zittern,  162 

Zoster,  142,  158,  201 

ZUBERBÜHLER,  W.,   300 

Zwangseingebung,  fremdartige ,  150 
Zwangs ge  danken,  162 
Zwangshandlungen,  156 
Zwangsimpulsen,  156 
Zwangsvorstellungen,  152 


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7.— A  Book  of  Whales.     By  F.  E.  Beddard,  M.A.,F.R.S.     Illustrated. 

8°.  $2.00. 

"  Mr.  Beddard  has  done  well  to  devote  a  whole  volume  to  whales.  They  are  worthy 
of  the  biographer  who  has  now  well  grouped  and  described  these  creatures.  The  general 
reader  will  not  find  the  volume  too  technical,  nor  has  the  author  failed  in  his  attempt  to 
produce  a  book  that  shall  be  acceptable  to  the  zoologist  and  the  naturalist," — N.  Y.  Times. 

8. — Comparative  Physiology  of  the  Brain  and  Comparative  Psy- 
chology. With  special  reference  to  the  Invertebrates.  By  Jacques 
Loeb,  M.D.,  Professor  of  Physiology  in  the  University  of  Chicago. 
Illustrated.     8°.     $1.75. 

41  No  student  of  this  most  interesting  phase  of  the  problems  of  life  can  afford  to  remain 
in  ignorance  of  the  wide  range  of  facts  and  the  suggestive  series  of  interpretations  which 
Professor  Loeb  has  brought  together  in  this  volume." — Joseph  Jastrow,  in  the  Chicago 
Dial. 

9. — The  Stars.  By  Professor  Simon  Newcomb,  U.S.N.,  Nautical  Al- 
manac Office,  and  Johns  Hopkins  University.  8°.  Illustrated.  Net. 
$2.00.     (By  mail,  $2.00.) 

"The  work  is  a  thoroughly  scientific  treatise  on  stars.  The  name  of  the  author  is 
sufficient  guarantee  of  scholarly  and  accurate  work." — Scientific  American. 

10. — The  Basis  of  Social  Relations.  A  Study  in  Ethnic  Psychology.  By 
Daniel  G.  Brinton,  A.M.,  M.D.,  LL.D.,  Sc.D.,  Late  Professor  of 

American  Archaeology  and  Linguistics  in  the  University  of  Pennsyl- 
vania ;  Author  of  "History  of  Primitive  Religions,"  "Races  and 
Peoples,"  "  The  American  Race,"  etc.  Edited  by  Livingston  Far- 
rand,  Columbia  University.     8°.     Net,  $1.50     (By  mail,  $1.60.) 

"  Professor  Brinton  his  shown  in  this  volume  an  intimate  and  appreciative  knowledge 
of  all  the  important  anthropological  theories.  No  one  seems  to  have  been  better  acquainted 
with  the  very  great  body  of  facts  represented  by  these  sciences." — Am.  Journal  0/ 
Sociology. 

11. — Experiments  on  Animals.  By  Stephen  Paget.  With  an  Intro- 
duction by  Lord  Lister.   Illustrated.    8°.    Net,  $2.00.    (By  mail,  $2.20.) 

"To  a  large  class  of  readers  this  presentation  will  be  attractive,  since  it  gives  to  them 
in  a  nut-shell  the  meat  of  a  hundred  scientific  dissertations  in  current  periodical  literature. 
The  volume  has  the  authoritative  sanction  of  Lord  Lister." — Boston  Transcript. 

12. — Infection  and  Immunity.     With  Special  Reference  to  the  Prevention 

of  Infectious  Diseases.     By  George  M.  Sternberg,  M.D.,  LL.D., 

Surgeon-General  U.  S.  Army  (Retired).     Illustrated.    8°.    Net,  $1.75. 

(By  mail, '$1. go.) 

"  A  distinct  public  service  by  an  eminent  authority.  This  admirable  little  work  should 
be  a  part  of  the  prescribed  reading  of  the  head  of  every  institution  in  which  children  or 
youths  are  gathered.     Conspicuously  useful." — N.  Y.  Times. 

13. — Fatigue.     By  A.  Mosso,  Professor  of  Physiology  in  the  University 

of  Turin,     Translated  by  Margaret  Drummond,  M.A.,  and  W.  B. 

Drummond,  M.B.,  C.M.,  F.R.C. P.E.,  extra  Physician,  Royal  Hospital 

for  Sick  Children,  Edinburgh;    Author  of  "The  Child,   His  Nature 

and  Nurture."     Illustrated.     8°.     Net,  $1.50. 

"A  book  for  the  student  and  for  the  instructor,  full  of  interest,also  for  the  intelligent 
general  reader.  The  subject  constitutes  one  of  the  most  fascinating  chapters  in  the  his- 
tory of  medical  science  and  of  philosophical  research." — Yorkshire  Post. 


14. — Earthquakes.    In  the  Light  of  the  New  Seismology.    By  Clarence 

E.   Dutton,   Major   ü.    S.    A.      Illustrated.     8°.     Net,  $2.00.     (By 

mail,  $2. co.) 

'The  book  summarizes  the  results  of  the  men  who  have  accomplished  the  great 
AL_  "S  in  their  pursuit  of  seismological  knowledge.  It  is  abundantly  illustrated  and  it 
fills  a  place  unique  in  the  literature  of  modern  science." — Chicago  Tribune. 

15. — The  Nature  of  Man.  Studies  in  Optimistic  Philosophy.  By  Elle 
Metchnikoff,  Professor  at  the  Pasteur  Institute.  Translation  and 
introduction  by  P.  Chambers  Mitchell,  M.A.,  D.Sc.  Oxon.  Illus- 
trated.    8°.     Net,  $2.00. 

"  A  book  to  be  set  side  by  side  with  Huxley's  Essays,  whose  spirit  it  carries  a  step 
further  on  the  long  road  towards  its  goal." — Mail  and  Express. 


The  foilovring  volumes  are  in  preparation  ; 

Meteors  and  Comets.     By  Professor  C.   A.  Young,  Princeton  Uni 
versity. 

The  Measurement  of  the  Earth.  By  Professor  C.  T.  Mendenhall, 
Worcester  Polytechnic  Institute,  formerly  Superintendent  of  the  U.  S. 
Coast  and  Geodetic  Survey. 

The  History  of  Science.     C.  S.  Pierce. 

Recent  Theories  of  Evolution.  By  J.  Mark  Baldwin,  Princeton 
University. 

The  Reproduction  of  Living  Beings.  By  Professor  Marcus  Hartog, 
Queen's  College,  Cork. 

Man  and  the  Higher  Apes.     By  Dl  V  Keith,  F.R.C.S. 

Heredity.     By  J.  Arthur  Thompson,  School  of  Medicine,  Edinburgh. 

Life  Areas  of  North  America:  A  Study  in  the  Distribution  of 
Animals  and  Plants.  By  Dr.  C.  Hart  Merriam,  Chief  of  the 
tiological  Survey,  U.  S.  Department  of  Agriculture. 

Age,  Growth,  Sex,  and  Death.  By  Professor  Charles  S.  Minot, 
Harvard  Medical  School. 

History  of  Botany.     By  Professor  A.  H.  Green. 

Planetary  Motion.     By  G.  W.  Hill. 


"  One  of  the  classics  of  the  nineteenth  century." 


The  Evolution  of  Man 

A  Popular  Scientific  Study 
By  Ernst  Haeckel 

Professor  at  Jena  University 
Translated  from  the  Fifth  (enlarged)  Edition  by 

Joseph  McCabe 

Two    volumes,  8vo,  with  30  Colored  Plates  and  51a  other  Illustra- 
tions, together  with  60  genealogical  tables     .      .    Net  $10.00 

The  work  is  a  comprehensive  statement  of  the  scientific 
grounds  for  evolution  as  applied  to  man.  It  does  not  deal 
with  religious  controversies,  and  is  scientific  throughout. 
The  work  is  unique  in  design,  which  is  carried  out  in  the 
last  edition  with  the  highest  degree  of  Haeckel's  literary 
and  artistic  skill.  Haeckel  has  always  been  distinguished 
for  pressing  the  combination  of  the  evidence  from  embry- 
ology with  the  evidence  of  zoology  and  paleontology.  In 
the  present  work  he  devotes  one  volume  broadly  to  embry- 
ology, or  the  evolution  of  the  individual,  and  the  second  to 
the  evolution  of  the  human  species,  as  shown  in  the  com- 
parative anatomy,  zoology,  and  paleontology.  The  last  few 
chapters  deal  in  detail  with  the  evolution  of  particular 
organs  right  through  the  animal  kingdom:  the  eye,  ear, 
heart,  brain,  etc.  Every  point  is  richly  illustrated  from 
Haeckel's  extensive  knowledge  of  every  branch  of  biology 
and  his  well-known  insistence  on  comparative  study. 

The  work  is  written  for  the  general  reader,  all  technical 
terms  being  explained,  and  no  previous  knowledge  being 
assumed  ;  but  the  scientific  reader,  too,  will  find  it  a  unique 
presentation  of  all  the  evidence  for  man's  evolution,  and 
especially  as  a  study  of  embryonic  development  in  the  light 
of  race-development. 

In  this  edition,  to  which  Haeckel  gave  six  months'  hard 
work,  the  plan  is  carried  out  with  great  skill,  and  the  illus- 
trations are  very  fine.  All  the  most  recent  discoveries  in 
every  branch  of  science  involved  are  included.  It  is  a 
thoroughly  up-to-date,  non-controversial,  most  comptehen- 
sive,  and  scientific  treatise  on  the  evolution  of  man  by  the 
greatest  living  authority  on  the  subject. 


New  York— Q.  P.  Putnam's  Sons— London 


The  Argument  against  Materialism 


Life  and  Matter 

A  Criticism  of  Professor  HaeckeVs 
"A  Riddle  of  the  Universe" 

By  Sir  Oliver  Lodge 

Crown  8vo.  $1.00  net.  By  mail  $1.10 

The  author  fully  acknowledges  Haeckel's  service  to  scien- 
tific thought  in  introducing  Darwinism  into  Germany,  and 
he  admits  that  to  advanced  students  Haeckel's  writings  can 
do  nothing  but  good.  He  believes,  however,  that  to  some 
general  readers  they  may  do  harm,  unless  accompanied  by  a 
suitable  qualification  or  antidote,  especially  an  antidote 
against  the  bigotry  of  their  somewhat  hasty  and  destructive 
portions. 

"  Deserves  to  rank  with  the  best  contributions  by  Huxley 
to  scientific  literature;  while  from  the  scientific  standpoint 
it  is  timely  in  its  appearance,  brilliant  in  its  conception,  and 
admirable  in  execution.  It  should  be  welcomed  by  all  who 
are  interested  in  the  development  of  true  science,  but  who 
have  no  patience  for  blatant  materialism.  .  .  The  ut- 
terance of  a  scientist  eminent  for  his  wonderful  researches. 

.     .     .     The  book  is  full  of  interest  and  information." 

Rev.  James  M.  Owen,  Lynchburg,  Va. 

"  A  fascinating  reply  to  Haeckel's  materialistic  philosophy 
of  life.  The  arguments  are  sane  and  sound.  Iyodge  is  a 
profound  scientist,  but  he  does  not  allow  his  scientific  know- 
ledge to  obscure  his  general  judgment." 

Providence  Journal. 


Date  Due 

I                   * 

*  v.  * 

- 

9 

RC351  F76 

1907 
Forel 

Hygiene  of  nerves  and  mind  in 
health  and  disease 


/fOiß 


WWW 


